Stellar Blade is an action-adventure game with a third-person perspective developed by the South Korean studio Shift Up. It marks the first major console game from the studio, which was previously best known for the mobile game “Destiny Child”. The publisher is Sony Interactive Entertainment, which has released the title exclusively for the PlayStation 5. Development work began under the original working title Project Eve and was first presented to the public in 2019. The project was led by Hyung-Tae Kim, who also serves as Creative Director and CEO of Shift Up. Kim is best known in the gaming scene for his character designs, which he has created for the “Magna Carta” series and “Blade & Soul”, among others.
The visual design of Stellar Blade clearly bears Kim’s signature, which is strongly oriented towards stylized depictions and has a loyal fan base, particularly in Asia. The project was launched with the aim of creating a high-quality single-player experience with cinematic staging, sophisticated combat mechanics and a strong focus on character animations. The title utilizes the technical possibilities of Unreal Engine 4, which was chosen as the basis from the very beginning of development work. A console-exclusive release was chosen in order to optimize the development specifically for a fixed hardware platform, particularly with regard to graphical detailing and loading times.
The game itself is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity has largely been driven from the earth. The protagonist Eve, a biomechanically enhanced soldier, is sent to Earth to fight against alien invaders called NA:tives. The basic narrative motif follows classic science fiction elements which, in combination with exaggerated character concepts and anime-like staging, convey a specifically Korean understanding of the genre. The subject combines dystopian visions of the future with a personal quest for revenge, embedded in a linear, narrative-centered structure with exploration and combat elements that are based on Western action games such as NieR: Automata, Bayonetta or God of War, but without copying them.
Stellar Blade was developed over several years, with the international media response in particular leading to growing public attention after the renaming in 2022. Shift Up deliberately positioned the title on the borderline between Korean pop culture, Japanese anime aesthetics and Western game mechanics, with the aim of appealing to global markets. The game was finally released in 2024 and was widely discussed both for its technical execution and the sometimes controversial portrayal of the main character. And just between you and me, I also tested the nude mod, but in the end it’s much more appetizing without it, because it’s enough as it is.
Stellar Eyes or Minds Blade? The comparison!
I played both games on the PC, Minds Eye first, because I was curious to see how it would feel with the new engine and the supposedly cinematic feel. I had already written something about this recently, because it felt like an unfinished student prototype that was padded with a budget of millions for some reason. The world? An empty concrete wasteland with copy-paste assets. The missions? Boring walking paths with absolutely interchangeable snippets of dialog. The combat system? Somewhere between a rubber band and a reaction lottery. No hit feedback, sluggish controls and constant clipping errors. I have rarely experienced a game that promises so much technically and delivers so little in terms of content. By the third mission block with exactly the same structure at the latest, it was clear: this was not going to work.
After that, I tried Stellar Blade and thought I had accidentally picked up a completely different genre. You realize right from the first battle: Someone has really thought about the gameplay here. Parrying, dodging, combos, everything is clean and feels controlled. The boss fights are challenging but fair, and the hit feedback is exactly what Minds Eye completely lacks. Even the normal mouse and keyboard or controller controls are well thought out and cleanly implemented. There’s no comparison to the clunky junk that Minds Eye offers.
Stellar Blade also plays at a much higher level graphically, despite the older Unreal Engine 4. Sure, it’s very stylized and anime-heavy, but at least it’s consistent and technically clean. The performance on my system was stable throughout, while Minds Eye, even with DLSS, looked like a broken benchmark that choked every five minutes. And this despite a significantly lower level of detail and what felt like ten NPCs in total in the city. But I’ll get to the technology in a moment. Stellar Blade also deserves a lot of credit: It has a clear direction. It knows what it wants to be, a well-staged action game with a strong focus on timing, style and atmosphere. Minds Eye, on the other hand, looks as if five uninspired design documents were thrown into a blender and the result was then released without any quality control.
In short: Stellar Blade is a real game for me, while Minds Eye looks more like a bad demo for a game engine that should never have gone on sale. Anyone who has played both will very quickly realize that they are worlds apart, not just technically, but above all in terms of whether you feel like continuing to play at all. With Minds Eye, I regretted it after two hours. With Stellar Blade, I was still having fun after ten hours.
Technology and performance
Stellar Blade still runs on Unreal Engine 4, which may seem a little surprising at first, especially at a time when many developers are advertising Unreal Engine 5. But the game actually shows impressively how much you can still achieve with the “old” engine if you know what you’re doing. Although it lacks spectacular features such as Lumen or Nanite, which are available in UE5, the game runs technically extremely cleanly, with a stable frame rate and short loading times, even on medium-sized systems.
The graphical presentation is harmonious overall. Of course, you shouldn’t expect a fully dynamically lit open-world wonderland, but Stellar Blade doesn’t need that. The environments are well-styled, sometimes very detailed, with clear lighting moods and effective animations. The art design focuses on stylized elements rather than maximum realism, which ultimately benefits the game. The scenarios look as if they have been cast from a single mold, which is not necessarily a matter of course in many UE5 games, as they like to work with assets from a wide variety of sources.
What is particularly noticeable in Stellar Blade is that the developers have not tried to adapt the engine to modern graphics benchmarks by hook or by crook, but have deliberately concentrated on consistent presentation, good readability and smooth processes. The fun of the game is the main focus and outshines many a technical limitation. The visuals are more than just functional, they match the style, appear well thought out and coherent. Those looking exclusively for ray tracing effects or spectacular tech demos may not be catered for here, but those who value a functioning overall picture will get a visual presentation that doesn’t have to hide in 2025 either.
Gameplay
The difficulty level of Stellar Blade is pleasantly challenging, but generally fair. Especially in the battles, you can tell that the game relies heavily on timing, reaction speed and precise positioning. If you simply hammer the buttons blindly, you will quickly be punished, as many enemies require targeted evasive maneuvers, parries and a good understanding of their attack patterns. The structure of the combat system is reminiscent of modern action titles such as Sekiro or Nier Automata, without completely adopting their complexity. It remains accessible, but with various special abilities, weapon upgrades and combos, it offers enough depth to prevent monotony even during longer play sessions.
The balancing is successful overall. Standard enemies pose a danger if you are not careful, while bosses require real skill. The learning curve remains pleasantly steep. The game gives the player enough room to internalize mechanics before confronting them with more difficult situations. Frustrating moments are kept to a minimum, as even setbacks seem understandable and are rarely due to unfair systems.
Although the missions essentially follow a linear structure, the game breaks this up time and again with optional side tasks that tell little stories or offer interesting rewards. Even if the mission objectives are often classic – such as clearing an area or searching for an object – the game manages to keep motivation high through variety in enemy design, changing scenery and a well-paced game flow. What is particularly positive is that Stellar Blade does not fall into repetitive grinding, but instead deliberately harmonizes pace and staging.
The variety also comes from the alternation between intense combat scenes, quieter exploration passages and short story interludes that further expand the world and the characters. The game always remains focused and avoids unnecessary lengths. You don’t have the feeling of being artificially held up, as is the case in many modern games with endless collecting tasks. Instead, Stellar Blade offers a compact but dynamic experience that impresses with its gameplay and presentation.
Summary and recommendation
Stellar Blade is a technically solid and playfully mature action adventure that is aware of its roots and combines them with modern elements. The combination of a precise combat system, stylized graphics and stringent staging results in a game that does not set new standards in all areas, but consistently delivers what it promises. It doesn’t need an open world full of occupational therapy, but concentrates on well-paced challenges, visually well-composed locations and a protagonist who may be polarizing, but whose role in the game context remains coherent.
The target group is clearly those players who appreciate character-driven action games with an Asian flavor, be it in the style of Bayonetta, Nier Automata or older Platinum Games titles. Anyone who enjoys timing-based battles, a certain stylistic exaggeration and a mixture of science fiction and anime aesthetics will quickly feel at home here. At the same time, the game is also interesting for those who are not primarily interested in the highest technical innovation, but rather in a solid, entertaining game flow with a clear structure and well thought-out gameplay.
In conclusion, Stellar Blade remains a pleasantly focused game that makes no false promises and is convincing precisely because of this. It doesn’t have to be the most ambitious project of the current console generation, because it is enough to offer a well thought-out and mechanically convincing experience. The fact that this has been achieved with an older engine, but with a lot of fine-tuning, speaks more for the developers than against them. Stellar Blade shows that a good game is more than just its technology – it is the sum of consistent design, functioning mechanics and the courage to go your own way. Anyone looking for exactly that will not be disappointed here. I’ll play on then…
As almost always, I bought and played the game myself.
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