Action RPG Stellar Blade has respectable Devil May Cry energy in latest trailer
Out April on consoles, PC release TBC
Sony has shared footage of swanky action-RPG Stellar Blade at the publisher's latest State of Play event. It’s launching on April 26th for PS5 – there’s no PC release date just yet, and I do hope developer Shift Up make the effort, because some rather cheesecakey female character models notwithstanding, this looks pretty decent.
The game casts you as Eve, a high-kicking, sword-swiping warrior lady who is fighting a bunch of leery aliens and robots for control of a far-future Earth. Together with various feisty companions, including an engineer called Lily, she’ll combo, double-jump and shoot her way across some fetching wasteland environments.
The game seems to be open world-ish, with underground cities full of NPCs who have an opinion of you that will improve or worsen as you undertake various odd jobs and help random castaways in the lands beyond. Among the lost souls you’ll meet is a tipped-over robot with an emoji face. Perhaps he’ll become your pal and sell you weapons? There’s the option of being a bastard and leaving people to their fates, though I’m not sure the game supports a full evil-character playthrough, going by Eve’s resolutely heroic demeanour in the cutscenes.
There are supply stations where you can stop, recover your stats, buy stuff and enhance your equipment and skills. The weapons seem to cover a decent range, from basic one-handed swords to beam cannons so large they fit round your body. The enemies are a motley bunch, too: there’s an alien ogre wielding pieces of bone, and a panther-ish entity with a giant clawed hand for a face, which reminds me of the ancient Oddworld series.
I like the cut of the game’s animations and especially the toe-curling bursts of slow-mo when you parry or perform a QTE finisher. At times, it feels like a posher, updated Nier: Automata - there's a shared cyborg theme - though I’ll be extremely surprised if what I’ve caught of Stellar Blade’s storyline and writing are in the same league. Colour me "keen to hear about a PC port".