I finally got around to playing and finishing Stellar Blade over the past couple of weeks, and while I enjoyed my experience, I find myself wondering what all the fuss was about. It was a perfectly solid game with a lot of good ideas while also having more than a few weaknesses that held it back some. It’s not a masterpiece, but neither is it a trash-tier project that’s being carried solely by an attractive main character. In other words, it’s a good game, but not great and certainly not terrible.

For those unaware, when it released, Stellar Blade was a major “battleground” for those fighting the perpetual online culture war. What exactly the culture war is, I honestly can’t really say because the “sides” are unclear, as are the specific things they’re fighting for/against. In the case of Stellar Blade, the major conflict seemed to be “sexualization vs censorship,” where one side was calling the game garbage because of EVE and how she’s presented and the other was, at different times, calling it the best thing ever because of EVE, or compromised because of some costume adjustments that covered her up slightly more. Confused? Yeah, so was I. All I heard for a while was either that it was either a masterpiece or a painfully mediocre experience.

Still, I wanted to try it because the combat actually looked pretty fun (and yes, also because of EVE). So, after waiting forever for a sale, I finally picked it up and played all the way through, taking care to do everything before finally finishing the game. And the verdict? Again, it’s good but not great.

The world it takes place in is interesting, but not terribly so. Stellar Blade seems to want to be esoteric in the same way that Nier: Automata is, but it just doesn’t take it far enough. So instead of a world that’s haunting in its strange familiarity, we’ve got something that just doesn’t make much sense. Details come in drips and drabs, and it’s difficult to connect what’s learned about the world’s history to how it looks now and how its people live. It also doesn’t help that most of the locations are just different flavors of drab and rundown.

Stellar Blade’s combat is fun, but only during encounters with major and minor bosses. Normal enemies go down a little too quickly to get much use out of most combat features but also too slowly to just enjoy blowing through them. This makes combat outside of boss encounters more of a chore than anything else, even getting frustrating when all you want to do is focus on your sidequests.

However, boss encounters are fantastic! They really push you to get the most out of EVE’s abilities and learn the crucial timings for perfect dodges and parries. They’re explosive, fast-paced and absolutely challenging, to the point where I actually got excited whenever I encountered one. They were a bit too few and far between, though, and many had a move or two that were near unavoidable, but they were a great experience otherwise.

Something that was unexpected was how interesting exploration and sidequests turned out to be. Annoying enemies aside, there was plenty to find in the world, making exploration a great way to fuel upgrades to EVE and her gear. Sidequests too were interesting, as they almost always yielded good rewards as well as more information about the world and its inhabitants. Also, you get to see some of the minor side characters actually grow and change a little bit because of EVE’s actions. It was nice to see that amount of care put into them.

I wish I could say the same for Stellar Blade’s main characters, though. Nobody really gets any meaningful development over the course of the game, and it’s really noticeable by the end. We learn stuff about them, sure, but it’s presented as more matter-of-fact than anything else. Even EVE doesn’t change much, with her only meaningful development left up to a decision by the player at the end. It’s a shame, because I really would have liked to see how each of them were affected by the game’s events.

As for how EVE herself is handeled, well, I suppose that’s a matter of perspective. She does look very attractive, and many of the outfits in Stellar Blade were definitely made to accentuate that. the game itself seems to take every opportunity for “fan service” as well, from photo mode options to how the camera behaves during action cutscenes and takedowns. I wouldn’t go so far as to compare it with actual, um, “spicy” games like some did, but Shift Up (the developer) wasn’t exactly subtle about this stuff either.

If you like that stuff, well, it’s got you covered. Otherwise, there are, thankfully, many outfits that are much more modest. So you can easily avoid the worst of it if you want. Outside of this, EVE is portrayed as a very powerful combatant who is very dedicated to her mission but also cares greatly for those around her. The only problems are that she starts and ends that way, and we don’t get much if any insight into how she thinks and why. If there’s a sequel, I really hope that gets addressed.

Okay, that’s all I got. If you like fun boss encounters, fast-paced combat, meaningful exploration and attractive characters, then you’ll probably like Stellar Blade. It’s got its issues for sure, but they don’t ruin it. I’d say to either buy it used or get it on sale if you’re interested. As for everything else surrounding it and games like it, at this point, it’s all better off ignored.

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Have you played Stellar Blade? What diid you think of it? Did it deserve the craziness surrounding its launch?

Image from the Steam page