Stellar Blade Demo: an experience that makes us long for the final release

Stellar Blade, one of the most anticipated video games of the year, will release its demo on PlayStation 5 this Friday, March 29, and we already had the chance to play it. Below, we give you our impressions of this incredible title that will be released on April 26.

How was Stellar Blade born?

Korean studio Shift Up announced Project Eve for PlayStation 4, Xbox, and PC in April 2019. This proposal was originally built on Unreal Engine 4, and a prototype of what it would look like was shown in late 2020. Later, at a PlayStation Showcase in September 2021, it would be announced as a PlayStation 5 exclusive with a release window in 2023.

According to a note attached to the video game embargo, the studio states that it is like a first for them as it is their first console development, which is something extraordinary especially since South Korea is a country where mobile video games as a service predominate. They state in the text that they wanted to create a complete game that could compete in the world, looking for this development to open the door to more Asian video games on console.

Among the curious facts of this release is the fact that the protagonist Eve is a scan of the Korean model Shin Jae-eun (@love_zennyrt).

What is Stellar Blade?

This title is set in a desolate future Earth and follows the journey of Eve and her squadron sent to defeat humanity’s enemies.

From what little we see in this demo, it will be a solo journey where with the help of companions and a drone we will try to overcome various obstacles and especially enemies.

What is the gameplay like in Stellar Blade?

From the beginning of this demo, we will be in the shoes of Eve, a kind of soldier who, after landing on Earth, begins to help one of his comrades in advance to rescue the other members of the squad that has been attacked.

After getting out of our capsule, we will immediately enter a tutorial where we will be explained on the fly the initial mechanics of low blow, strong, jump, dodge, block and a few special moves.

The game’s third-person perspective is very similar to that of Bayonetta, in fact we could say that it is very similar, with the difference that Eve is a little less “badass” protagonist than the daring and sensual Cereza. Although it should be noted that the character’s clothing reflects a different attitude, without forgetting that we can use more daring skins in exchange for making the game more difficult, and that Eve can climb walls as well as dive.

This hack n’ slash also has an RPG-style character development system that will allow us to develop the skills we like and equip items to improve our condition.

Like in Death Stranding, we have a kind of scanner that helps us identify objects, enemies, and especially areas where we can pass or hang.

It will also compensate fans of exploration with beta cores, a kind of pills that will help us increase our beta energy.

As for the complexity of the gameplay, we can see that it will have an infinite number of combinations that will evolve as we progress and that will be key in the fights, for example, we have unlocked an evasive move that will allow us to get behind our enemy’s back when he is about to attack us with his special move.

The available difficulties were Normal and Story, we played the former and noticed a lot of similarities to Bayonetta 3 with levels full of small, medium, and large enemies and especially a final enemy. Something we really liked was the surprise element, like in Souls, where we often did not see the enemy attacking us.

Something that caught our attention is the save points, which seemed similar to those of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, since although they serve to buy items and weapons, they accommodate our points to improve skills, improve weapons (in the larger camps), and above all rest.

Another important point is blocking and evasion, since both are part of a system of counterattacks that go hand in hand with the timing with which we use them and, above all, with the assertiveness of the direction in which we move.

It is a fact that we are facing one of the video games that will give a lot to talk about this 2024, both for its spectacular visuals, its incredible sound and soundtrack, as well as its content that has led it to be classified as a video game for adults.