If you have been around the Internet recently, you might have caught the news about Stellar Blade. In case you didn't know, it's a game about an attractive female character called Eve in a rather revealing outfit. The game has been a main talking point for weeks, thanks to its protagonist's character design.
However, this brings a few questions to mind. What is Stellar Blade about? What does the gameplay look like? With the recently released demo, we can now entertain these thoughts. So, this is our verdict on the demo.
Plot - Surviving Alien invaders in a post-apocalyptic Earth
The story is rather straightforward. In the future, alien invaders will take over Earth and bring havoc to the planet. This led to a post-apocalyptic earth setting in the game. In this story, you play Eve. She was dispatched from the orbital colony in outer space where the remaining humans now reside. The goal? To reclaim Earth from its new alien masters.
We can expect more variety in enemy mobs in the official release
It can get a bit messy at times
Based on the demo, you will be starting near the outskirts of a town. Throughout the demo, you are tasked to clear the Eidos 7th Silent Street level. Once the game is out, you can resume play from the finished demo stage. That should give you a good head start.
Gameplay - Souls-like but faster
For your information, this demo is about 30 minutes long. As you can expect from a souls-like game, it teaches you to dodge, parry and chain your attacks accordingly. It also features a primary RPG element in this game. At some point, you get to rest at checkpoints and upgrade your character skills, attack, and survival kits with the skill points.
The potential for multiple playstyles is there
Personally, we feel this hack-and-slash game is more similar to God of War 2 on PS2, Parasite Eve and even Bayonetta. If you have played one of these games, you will feel right at home with the pacing of the action. However, you might want to pay more attention to enemy movement and attack cues.
Moreover, learning your enemies pays off. Not only does it make fights easier, but it also makes you feel like a pure badass. For instance, when your enemy's attack flashes red, you can either parry or block it. On the other hand, a blue flash means you can execute a blink skill to finish off your opponent or create a new opening for an attack.
We are looking forward to the customisation features in the full game
Performance - It's buggy, but that's expected
For a demo, we expected the game to be buggy or glitchy. The same can be said about this 30-minute demo. We noticed the lock-on camera can be an issue when fighting several enemies at once. Unless you are a veteran Monster Hunter, this issue can be quite annoying to deal with.
On top of that, the diving animation can be jaggy sometimes. This affects your character's movements because the diving animation is not smooth. There is also a slight issue with the platforming. For example, it can be quite tough to get onto a plane after you push it to the wall while swimming.
The lock-on camera can be a bit iffy
Learning your enemies' attack patterns feels very rewarding
Sometimes, you might fall from the edge of the cliff while jumping from pole to pole because of the awkward camera movements. Hopefully, Shift Up will patch these issues when the full game comes out.
Conclusion - It's mindless fun and we are here for it
This demo introduces you to Alpha Naytiba, a prominent boss you will have to beat at some point. But before that, the demo gives you a taste of boss fights with Abaddon and Stalker. Just like any hack-and-slash title, the boss fights are easy to understand and enjoyable to play.
However, it can take you some time to master the camera movement, dodging and parrying mechanics. We also love the monster and character designs for the game. It's creative and graphic and doesn't shy away from violence. After all, it is a hack-and-slash game. You might call it "Mindless fun", but it is fun nonetheless.
Our verdict on this demo? It's great, and we love it. So, we are definitely excited for the full release. Hopefully, we can afford it by the time it comes out.
What are your thoughts about this game? Stay tuned for more news and updates like this at TechNave!
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