I recommend: Stellar Blade (Review)

this video is sponsored by the allnew red magic 9 Pro gaming phone if you play games on your phone regularly this is basically the best phone you can get for that purpose I know that sounds a little hard to believe but if you stick around to the end of the video I'll show you why alternatively you can click the link below to check it out for yourself right now recently IGN hosted an interview with the legendary Yoko Taro creator of the near series and hang Tai Kim the director for Stella blade this was an important meeting for two reasons firstly it was a chance for Kim to meet his Idol Kim had spoken in no uncertain terms about how much the near series means to him and he specifically said that when he played near autometer he realized what kind of game he wanted to one day make the other reason this meeting was important is because in this interview Yoko Taro said that Stella blade was a better game than near autometer quote Stella blade is a really amazing game I'd say that it's much better than NE autometer end quote Kim had his own praise for Taro saying quote neom has such a strong and unique flavor to it the more we talk about it I keep feeling that Stellar blade can't compete end quote Taro did not agree responding quote I wouldn't say that Stella blade actually makes me quite jealous it's a game with a great concept and amazing Graphics the product shows how you and your studio staff were working on it very hard together end quote so I bring this to you at the top of this review because I think understanding the reverence that Kim has for NE autom is Central to understanding Stella blade because ultimately I do believe that despite the protestations of yokaro Stella blade is is a game that lives in near automator's Shadow but I can understand why yokaro might say that Stella blade is a better video game because Stella blade has many the things that near autom lacked it has far better visual something near autom was criticized for when it released back in 2017 depending on your taste you might say it has better combat both during regular World exploration but in particular during boss battles it has better open world design better exploration better progression and customization and a better rewards economy hold these two games up to the light and you may come to the same conclusion that yokara did Stella blade is a better video game but it just isn't so because for the many many things that Stella blade gets right there is just something missing from the core of this that makes Stella blade feel hollow and vapid much of it comes from how relentlessly Stella blade attempts to ape near autometer from the main character to the setting to the story to the soundtrack to so much more major story moments themes and reveals feel like they were cribbed straight from n Omer and you might say what's wrong with that isn't that loving homage or couldn't we classify Stella blade as a sort of spiritual successor well you could if the spirit of these two games was remotely the same but they couldn't be more different neurometer was beautiful and gut-wrenching and thought-provoking and moving every part of it felt so human despite its mechanized Aesthetics Stella blade on the other hand feels entirely synthetic art design that looks flashy but never feels cohesive lifeless characters wooden voicework and a story that is a mix of incomprehensible and forgettable with far too many of its major beats lifted from near autometer Stella blade adopts the adornments of NE autometer without fully understanding what made them so affecting I would kind of liken it to atomic heart which was clearly inspired by Bioshock but without the narrative thematic or visual potency that made Bioshock so memorable the difference though is that atomic heart had a lot of design problems that Stell blade doesn't suffer from and like I said earlier in this introduction Stella blade gets a hell of a lot of stuff right I did end up enjoying this game and that's why I'm recommending it to you but it does take a while for Stella blade to really hit it stride and I would argue this game really only comes together in the last 5 or so hours of its 25 to 30 hour runtime when a final Boss run Gauntlet showcases just how great Stella Blade's combat and boss design can be in that final stretch you're given a vision of what Stell blade could have been if it wasn't so focused on aping near autometer this is a solid game made by a talented development team but the impact of Stellar blade is profoundly hamstrung by the reverence that this team has for the work that inspired it [Music] come e are you ready Stella blade is the story of Eve she's on a mission from Mother's spere a deity like entity that has tasked her and her kind with the protection of the human race during her launch she crashed lands and and her companion is cut down by an alpha NABA one of the Monstrous entities that threatened Humanity's existence rescued by the even killed Adam Eve eventually makes her way to one of the few remaining human settlements Zion where she meets Lily a chipper mechanic who is only too happy to help in any way she can Zion is on the brink of collapse and in desperate need of hypercell cor that could sustain the city and its denisons thus even her buddies set out towards a variety of locations to bring these cells back restore power to the city all while eliminating the alpha nativas which were Eve's original objective all of this is of course a setup for a much grander Story full of misdirection and Intrigue that explores why the world is ruined the way that it is and the true motivations of this mother sphere and the nature of what it means to be human and the identity of the alpha nateas your task with culling and ultimately Eve's place within all of this as someone tasked with a mission to protect Humanity I suspect that there will be two sets of reactions to Stell blade story anyone who hasn't played near aom is going to be like this sucks because it does it's not good telegraphs itself way too much the reveals aren't at all interesting and it tries to play itself off as deeper and more dramatic than it actually is for most people they're just going to be like oh well bad story easy to ignore when the combat is this good whatever totally fair reaction by the way if you have played near autometer as I have then I suspect you may have a different reaction to this story because far too much of it feels far too close to near autometer story I'm not going to go into specifics because I don't want to spoil anything but there were enough similar clarities that I found it deeply distracting cuz I felt like I was experiencing a worse version of something that I had already experienced separate from all of the comparisons The Narrative and character side of Stella blade is a total mess easily the weakest part of the entire experience Eve has received a lot of attention for her character design with people suggesting that her design is overly sexualized and I'll be real with you I don't care that she's sexualized any more than I care about buff Abby in the last of us both things can exist and both things are fine what I care about is is this a good well-written character and Eve is not a good well-written character she is just so vapid she has no emotional range she never says anything interesting events seem to wash over her without her seeming to process them in a way that feels believable she goes out of her way to help people in Zion verb side quest but even the most emotive of quest lines fails to Rouse anything resembling emotion in her sexy does not mean devoid of Personality Bayonetta is basically sex personified and no one on the planet would dare say she's lacking in personality more pointedly 2B from near automa defends Humanity while wearing thigh highs in a thong but she's complex she fronts as this uncaring cyborg because her programming prohibits feelings but she still feels things and these emotions mean all the more for how forbidden they are she's literally bursting with a Humanity that she's not supposed to possess and for that reason she feels like a very real character Eve does not she's totally Hollow so incredibly lifeless and flat for the entire game's duration and given that she is the window through which you view this entire world the world itself seems equally lifeless the city so quiet and so lonesome well that's what happens when a city becomes devoid of the exact same thing could be said of the game's other main character Adam in fact it's worse with him as his voice work is just so cold and distant he's like an AI voice istent more than an actual person these two spend so much time speaking to each other but it never comes close to feeling like they have any actual emotional connection well there are still some issues with the tetrapod steering system so I'm afraid we're not able to leave then when will you be ready unfortunately it's going to take longer than a day then I'll go ahead on foot things are a little bit different with Lily who feels really out of place in this game because she feels like an actual person she has a person personality and emotions and she questions things and is confused by things and she actually feels real later in the game she plays a more Central role and it's no coincidence that that's the best part of the game in large part because of the Fantastic boss encounters but it doesn't hurt that Lily is there to provide a human reaction to the things that are transpiring because you can't rely on the rest of the cast to do that this overall feeling of lifelessness is pervasive across the game other NPCs you meet in Zion even when they're trying to present as real they don't like this is me meeting the town hairdresser I'm cim the hair stylist ha I style your hair so you feel better and confident your hair looks great it's full of potential but that potential is hidden at the moment that's why I said it is dull is that so are you saying you can make my hair less dull at this point he sends me on a fetch quest to collect his hair dry his hair in his scissors from a junk pile out in the open world but do you see what I mean like does this guy look like a hairdresser to you does his voice actor sound like it matches the character you see in game and even setting aside how weird this is it's also just kind of boring you took an interaction that could have been interesting and full of character and just made it really dull you might think I'm cherry-picking this example but it's not the only one here's another this is me meeting a little balloon Droid that I just rescued out in the wild what happen to you drones like you aren't supposed to work this way hello Eve I am digger I have innumerable thoughts concerning my existence and I am capable of making fantastic plans I told you this would be fun you see what I mean see how they clearly meant this interaction to be funny a little quirky but it's just not because all the life is sucked out of this scene because of how vacant all of the these characters are these two scenes really are the perfect encapsulation of what this entire story and World feels like it's full of all this unique looking stuff that should have vastly more personality and presence than it actually does the game is also reaching for a number of themes which are again kind of a copy and paste from NE automa not all of them but certainly enough of them that I can't really talk about them without spoiling things but yeah the side quest that gesture towards grander themes still fumble the execution and the smaller Side Stories the game tells are no less messy than the main story shift up really painted themselves into a corner here if storytelling is not your strength then recognize that and tell a simple story that has fewer trip wires if you can't properly grapple with futurist humanist or philosophical themes then don't try to engage with them shiftup didn't know or recognize their limits here and they bid off well and truly more than they could chew with the type of story that they wanted to tell but they made an even more egregious mistake in their attempts to Riff on near automet story and themes because now not only am I experiencing a bad story but I'm constantly being reminded of a better one coupled with the terrible characterization of both the main and Side characters and it's a damn good thing that Stella blade plays as well as it does because you certainly aren't going to be playing this one for the [Music] story looks like they used to work here let's take a look as much as still blade cribs the story and themes of neurot Tomar it does do the same thing to the setting and World design too though to be fair there are very big differences in how playable these World spaces are and there's certainly an improvement here in Stell blade so yeah Stell blade is set on Earth in the very distant future after a cataclysm of unknown Origins wipes out most of the human race what's left is essentially ruins infested with nativas as well as a handful of settlement spaces where a cybernetically enhanced form of humanity try to scratch out an existence there are two types of space in Stell blade there's your linear missions which are set in sewers and Subways and scientific facilities Etc and then there are your open World areas there are two of these open World areas and both of them are big wide open deserts punctuated by various points of interest mainly ruins or scrap heaps these open world spaces aren't much to look at they're simple and barebones next to how visually intricate the rest of the game often looks and that Simplicity was a very good choice Stell blade can feel a bit visually discombobulating at times between the cyborg NPCs and the weird [ __ ] up technical face monsters on the high-tech weapons research facilities you're exploring seeing a big empty desert roll out before you it's very real and organic in a game that often struggles to feel real and organic it also helps that these open world spaces are actually quite Pleasant and rewarding to explore so you'll get side quests from NPCs in Zion to go out to one of these open World areas and do a thing these side quests are pretty basic like go and find my hair dryer or please find out what happened to my son Etc nothing special but when you get get out to the spot where you need to complete the objective it's almost always interesting it usually involves some block puzzle or some platforming or some climbing or finding three terminals so you can activate the main terminal or time challenges where you press a button and have to shoot Targets in quick succession or quickly run over to a spot while dodging deadly turret fire oddly enough I can only think of two quests in the whole game which will like kill X number of enemies for a reward The Narrative setups and payoffs for each of these activities is really weak but the of completing them is often surprisingly enjoyable given how much work shift up has put into designing novel activities and that's just the side quest stuff where there's actually a whole bunch of stuff to find out in these deserts that isn't a side quest it's just a fun little hidden chest or a collectible or whatever you just wander around and scan the environment to see something tucked away Out Of Reach and then you go about seeing how to reach it it seems like a simple Loop and it is but again because shift up are constantly pretty inventive with how they've designed these little puzzle challenges it never really gets old I did almost all of the side content on offer maxed out every possible upgrade that meant my playthrough took a total of around 30 hours and I never really got bored of heading out into these two open World areas to see what I might find and I was equally happy to return to them after major story arcs to mop things up I had missed all of this is totally optional by the way and if you want to completely avoid all of this stuff you can but I would advise against that because I think that this open World stuff is actually some of Stella blad's best content I don't want to oversell it but it's good especially given that it doesn't wear out its welcome one of the reasons that this works as well as it does is because Stella blade has a surprising number of gameplay systems it can lean on to keep gameplay feeling diverse this is not just a character action game but nor does it make hard pivots into other genres the way that NE autometer did Stellar blade never suddenly becomes a schmap or a bullet hell game rather its diversity comes from systems that feel far more core to the overall gameplay Loop climbing is a big one you'll spend a lot of time looking for yellow paint so you know which surfaces to climb which people really hate these days but I don't really care to be honest you want me to climb a thing I'll climb it and the less time I need to look for barely visible hand holds the better platforming is another big Focus you will often have to jump from place to place the controls can get a little funky but they work overall it's also swinging from either bars or ropes and you can mix things up with dashes and double jumps there's wall running as well because why not many of these things open up bit by bit which gives Stella blade a sort of Metroid Vania feel particularly as you can return to some of the previous areas you visited to complete challenges that were previously impossible the best example of Stella blad's gameplay range comes in the form of two missions which actually become survival horror Shooters but again not because the game has suddenly shifted perspective or employed some gimmick it's because the core gameplay Loop is Broad enough to withstand a shift like that Eve's turret that follows her around scanning environments and giving her advice it also doubles as a gun that she instantaneously mounts on her wrist whenever she wants to fire so there are two sections in the game where you sword is disabled and you have to rely on this turret gun and there are all new enemy types that are introduced to a weak to gunfire because they have plenty of weak spots and it's all really dark and claustrophobic and it's full of jump scares and it has these scripted sequences where you need to shoot waves or enemies while trying to survive it's cool man it really is both times when I finished these sections I was like damn man that is some good game design right there because it's very rare for a game to be able to deliver you a totally different experience while staying within the constraints of its existing gameplay mechanics it speaks to a broader point about how wellmade Stell blade is across many of its components visually I personally don't like the art design I think it really lacks visual cohesion but technically it's very sound and when the art direction does hit right Stella blade can look [ __ ] awesome it also runs really well I only had some minor frame starters here or there but other than that no bugs no crashes in terms of Polish it's absolutely all there it's also been thoroughly play tested and so much convenience has been brought to bear without the game feeling like it's slippery and overdesigned respawn spots are never far from a place you're likely to die a lot the progression economy is generous with how much it dos out vital upgrades while also leaving that little bit extra for you to work towards you can change all of your gear on the fly whenever you like you can get upgrades that help with sustain so you can stay longer in the field or upgrades for your drone that help you find Collectibles more easily death is pretty painless and that it never cost you any resources and in fact you get to keep your ability charges mean that when you re-enter combat the next time you have a bit of an advantage going into it coupled with an easy mode for those inclined and a hard mode that opens up after the first completion St blade has been very thoughtfully designed to never irritate the player but it never makes things so convenient that it feels like the game is playing itself it's a really nice balance that demonstrates that shift up know what they're doing but the absolute best showcase for that point is the combat [Applause] [Music] [Music] pretty much every review has praised Stella blade for its combat and you know what Des spot not this combat rules but it does take some time for this combat model to really open up and it only fully hits its stride in the final stretch of the game where some exceptional boss design really showcases just how great this combat can be it starts fairly simple a light attack and a heavy attack with different combos allowing you to seamlessly weave those attacks together there's a Dodge which does Dodge things and most importantly there's a block button which doubles as a Parry when you time it correctly with these basics in place what you start to notice almost immediately is how much flexibility Stellar blade gives you to play how you want to play It's Perfectly viable for you to use only light attacks because there's combos for that and the shorter animation windows are safer you can also exclusively use heavy attacks and that works too so long as you're willing to risk being more exposed due to the long longer animations associated with each attack if you'd like to just dodge everything you can do that and similarly if you'd like to be really aggressive and Parry everything you can do that too obviously the game intends for you to make smart use of everything on the table but it's not forcing you into a specific play style the way that something like sakiro does but it is inviting that Parry style of play in two important ways number one your abilities charge much more quickly when you parry and enemies have a stagger meter that depletes more quickly when you parry them so you're incentivized to Parry but the other thing is that enemy animations and swing timers are extremely readable giving you the confidence to Parry based on what you see rather than having to rely on your memory alone what I mean by that is that many games like this will deliberately mess with animations and swing timers such that an enemy will hold a wind up a second or two longer than you might expect them to because that makes pairing their attacks harder and so that means that you'll get hit and die a lot while you try to memorize these timings I get why this is necessary because it does alter the p in of combat in ways that keeps it challenging and diverse but I do feel as though many games lean into this too much and I feel like I spend more time trying to memorize and recall swing timers than actually responding dynamically to what I see the enemy is doing Stella blade definitely has some of this memory based paing timing stuff going on absolutely but more often it's relying on animations and swing timers that are reasonable and that makes sense and when the enemy draws their arm back to take a swing they then swing when you would reasonably expect them to I love that I really did I think it makes the Parry based combat more inviting and more satisfying because it feels like I'm actually interfacing with an enemy rather than just dying to their Mercurial swing animations until I eventually memorize them enough it does make combat easier and I would say playing on normal difficulty Stell blade is a pretty easy game for anyone who's played their fair share of melee action titles or Souls likes but this approach to the rhythm of combat is an absolute winner and one of shift Up's smartest decisions so all that stuff that I just spoke about those are just the basics in combat really does open up a lot more after that it's driven by the skill tree killing enemies and completing quests will give you skill points which you can then use to unlock new abilities or augment your existing abilities so your Dodge can become a double dodge and it becomes easier to execute a perfect Dodge which gives you a witch time slowdown thing and you can also make it easier to perform perfect paries crucially new offensive abilities open up after you perform a Dodge or a Parry allowing you to Counterattack and maintain momentum by far in away the coolest thing you unlock is this phase shift that you can execute when enemies are about to perform an unblockable attack you press forward and circle when your weapon flashes and you'll teleport behind the target allowing you to follow up with a hard-hit encounter the majority of your damage won't come from basic attacks though but rather from abilities that charge up whenever you do anything but charge faster when you keep the pressure on an enemy there are AOE focused abilities when you're fighting out in the wild during boss encounters you're definitely going to be more focused on the ones that deal strong single Target damage there are only a few of these abilities but between Parry dodging phasing regular attacks and the odd bit of range combat there's more than enough within the combat framework to make it feel robust and to Stave off any feelings of boredom or repetition that may creep in it also helps that there's plenty of enemy diversity and that remains constant throughout your entire playthrough in every new Zone you'll face new foes and they aren't just reskins or whatever they're entirely new enemies with new attacks and move sets and weaknesses and all of it and once you introduce to them they're then combined with other enemy types and the whole combat chest thing in which is able to deliver unique feeling encounters every time by the end there's a really expansive bestiary to square off against but shift up and never just throwing endless scores of enemies at you in order to overwhelm you they're much more deliberate with how they get difficulty to scale over time and it definitely works so combat starts pretty limited but it certainly opens up as the game goes on owing to new abilities unlocked and new foes met but I cannot stress enough just how important the final Boss Rush is in showcasing the potential of this combat I'm not going to show you any of it here because I don't want to spoil it but the last 5ish hours of this game is essentially a Boss Rush with four Marquee encounters that are so spectacular to behold and so well-designed that this is when Stella blade finally clicked for me in this last stretch Stella blade finds the identity that it was to this point unable to grasp when Stell blade is trying to be near autometer it sucks but when it remains focused on its excellent combat and boss design Stell blade is its own unique experience because this isn't Devil May Cry or Bayonetta and nor nor is it dark souls or sakiro and nor is it God of War it sits squarely between those different combat models borrowing the best parts of each of them to arrive at something that feels distinct something that is challenging but accessible fast but well paced rewarding aggressive play without demanding it Stell blades combat is its standout feature and it's a true shame that this excellent and unique combat model sits within a game that feels like a fawning fan girl hoping to catch the attention of something greater [Music] [Applause] [Music] in near automa there is a location called the copied City it's made of crystallized silicon and carbon and it was built by one of the game's antagonists Adam as a means of understanding humans more the game doesn't really delve into the law of this place very deeply but it's interesting that this machine builds this thing with streets and buildings and power boxes and staircases and all the things that a city should have but there's no color there's no people there's no life the copied City adopts the form of a City without understanding what a city really is looking at the broader critical reception to Stella blade it's clear that I have an outsized reaction to the way that it is looking to emulate NE automa most other reviews recognize that near is obviously a major source of inspiration for this but they seem unbothered by how much of an inspiration it is for me it's too much and it feels like shift up was so focused on recreating The Vibes of neotoma that they forgot to create Vibes of Their Own like the soundtrack we haven't even spoken about that yet but it is very very near autometer and that is not surprising because shift up actually engaged one of near composers kichi okab and they worked with his Production Studio to deliver roughly 40% of the music in this game and it's not an evolution of the near sound either it's the same soundscape again at least when it comes to the more dreamy background tracks there is plenty of Music in this game that does sound unique but yeah there is like 40% of it where if you close your eyes you would absolutely swear you're listening to the near OST obviously the main character is a sexy girl with a sword followed around by a drone that talks to her scans the environment and can be used to shoot things the world often looks like the world of near autometer Barren spaces punctuated by ruins plenty of industrial settings the story is strikingly similar in major aspects as are the themes it looks to awkwardly explore like I said anyone who didn't play NE automa it's probably not going to bother you but I did play NE automa and it is very special if you're going to go to that place then you better be a ble to wrap your arms around all that stuff shift up does not have the wingspan required they clearly are very inspired by yara's work and they have such reverence for what he's created but they are not a fraction of the Storyteller he is and they would have been much better served to have used NE automa as a muse rather than as a template there is no denying that alongside this disappointing mimicry is a very solid video game that sometimes has flourishes of greatness the open world design is simple but it does engender and reward curiosity the broad range of game systems on offer mean that things always feel well paced and diverse the technical and user experience polish shows just how much work shift up have put into this and how talented they are as developers that's best shown however by these survival horror style missions and this excellent combat and these fantastic boss encounters you don't get to make this stuff by accident like if you can pull off that stuff you in a pretty small club and shift up are absolutely in that club which is why I'm really Keen for shift UPS next game like if they needed to make this game to get ne autometer out of their system then that's done now now they can let yokaro make near games and they can make their own thing Stella blade proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that shift up know how to make a good video game and if they're willing to move beyond the confines of their own star eyed near agulation I think that'd end up making a really great video game I look forward to that but for now I do think there's enough here in Stell blade to enjoy and so I recommend it to you [Music] all right we all know the big phone manufacturers and they're doing their thing but there's one company that's been working their ass off to develop the best gaming phone on the market and that's this video sponsor red magic for multiple generations of Hardware Red magic have been perfect ing the art of the gaming phone delivering things like a screen that is smooth and bright battery life that goes the distance ergonomics that put Gameplay at the center of the experience rather than being an afterthought and performance that runs rings around the competition supported by a cooling system that keeps your device running cool even under intense loads all of those generations of work culminate here in the red magic 9 Pro the single best smartphone on the market if playing 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just like that is insane any other phone I've used doesn't even come close to that the ice 13 cooling system uses an actual fan inside the phone to suck in air from one side and push it out the other it's really quiet but it's really powerful because the biggest thing that causes performance loss when playing on mobile is your device overheating with the CPU needing to reduce load to manage that with low tempts comes better performance and that's exactly what the red magic 9 Pro is built for it features highly responsive remappable 520 HZ frequency shoulder buttons allowing you to use your index fingers during gameplay perfect for Shooters action games or racing titles there's also the games Space Center a user experience that you can toggle on and off and it basically converts your phone into a games console making it easy to load up your favorite titles adjust game specific settings and so much more for me personally I do a fair amount of gaming on my mobile between experiences like Marvel snap wild Rift and crash Royale as well as ports of some of my favorite Indies like dead cells or papers please mobile can be a really great place to play games and if you want to have the absolute best phone for playing games then this is it the red magic 9 Pro it comes in a range of different colors and configurations and right now red magic are actually doing a special six anniversary sale that runs until the 9th of May where they're doing heaps of giveaways and stuff so click below to check that out or just visit their socials uh big thank you to magic for sponsoring the video and thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Skill Up

Views: 280,071

Keywords: skill up, skill, up, gameplay, games, guide, Stellar Blade, Stellar Blade review, Stellar Blade Gameplay, stellar blade trailer, stellar blade demo, stellar blade eve, stellar blade eve outfits, stellar blade impressions, ps5, stellar blade ost, nier automata, stellar blade vs nier automata, stellar blade ps5, ps5 exclusives 2024, review, part 1, cutscenes, playthrough, no commentary, combat

Id: 6NPvgtZ9pxc

Length: 31min 23sec (1883 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024