Stellar Blade" Review! Action adventure with free exploration, TPS and puzzle solving!

Eve, a paratrooper, descends to Earth to save mankind

The story takes place on Earth in the far future. The few surviving humans have been forced to retreat to a space colony after the ground is taken over by monsters called "natives. The protagonist, Eve, is one of the paratroopers who is sent down to save the human race by wiping out the natives who have infested the earth. This is the synopsis of the film.

Most of the places you visit in the game are in ruins, with almost no one alive except for a few strongholds called "Zion," which are littered with corpses. The native creatures that rule the land have organs protruding from their bodies and have an eerie appearance, as if they are made up of parts of humans and other creatures, a far cry from the appearance of Eve and other humans. It is obvious at a glance that these creatures are unknown to us and that our common sense does not apply to them. During the game, I felt a strong sense of despair that the civilized society and the convenient and safe life have been taken away by these creatures and will never come back.

In the story, the world of this work itself is a great mystery. Many important words such as "final war" appear as the player progresses through the stages, raising various questions, including the situation of the earth before the natives took over and the true identity of the natives. In a series of developments that leave the player wondering what lies ahead, mysteries large and small gain traction and pull the player's side of the story along. This title has many subquests as side trip elements, but if you don't plan to go into them in particular, there are not many places to stop, and you will be able to proceed with the main storyline at a good pace.

However, if possible, players should complete the subquests as well. In Zion, the base for the remaining human population on the ground, many requests come in through the bulletin board. There are many variations, such as going to a specific location to find supplies, finding a missing person, or solving a problem from the numbers provided.

When a player completes a request from a person in the database on the menu screen, a new record of the interaction with that person and what happened afterward will be added to the target's record, supplementing the information. This is a proof that the player has helped the client, and at the same time, the player becomes attached to the client.

The rewards for subquests vary depending on the content, but basically they provide experience for learning the skills described below, as well as materials needed to strengthen equipment. Some of the rewards increase the skills that Eve can learn and the functions that she can use in the game, so there are many advantages to conquering the sub-quests.

TPS, puzzle solving, and other stages and gimmicks can be enjoyed while following the storyline.

This work is basically a single path. The route to take is predetermined, although there are containers full of materials and forked paths with data-carrying corpses. By pressing the touch pad on the DualShock, the drone accompanying Eve analyzes her surroundings and shows her the terrain and direction to her destination, so she is not likely to get particularly lost.

Some boxes require a password. The password is basically somewhere in the same field.

Even though there is only one path, there are many different types of fields in this work. In addition to the ruins at the beginning of the story, players will visit a variety of places, including a vast wilderness with little vegetation and a dimly lit underground facility.

While it is nice to see a major change in scenery and structure, there are also patterns that change the method of attack itself. The aforementioned wilderness is so large that it seems a bit like an open world, and players can freely explore facilities within the field, such as a huge tower, an abandoned container ship, and a square where scrap is collected.

On the other hand, there are also some puzzles to be solved, such as fighting natives with only long-range weapons while going underground where there is almost no lighting, like in a shooting survival horror game, or manipulating cranes to create scaffolding or moving equipment to guide lasers to their destinations.

Although the action element of fighting the natives is the core of the game, the adventure element of exploring the field is also very strong, and new elements keep coming up one after another, so players will never get bored of the game. The quality of this adventure game is also quite good.

Tense battles fought by making full use of parry

Eve's actions are based on a fast-emerging weak attack and a slightly slower but more powerful strong attack. Combo combos are connected with two types of attacks, such as two weak attacks followed by a strong attack, or a strong attack followed by a weak attack.

If the enemy is a simple zombie, you can defeat it with a combo attack alone, but there are some types that will counterattack without regard to damage. While it is not a bad idea to defend against such enemies, I recommend the " Just Parry" action. By pressing L1 just before the opponent launches an attack, you can "Just Parry," which would normally result in a guard action, and repel the enemy's attack.

If the enemy's "balance" is reduced to zero, the enemy will lose its stance and the player can perform a deadly move. In addition, " beta energy, " which is needed to activate attack skills, is also recovered. Mastering the use of Just Parry not only allows the player to parry an enemy's attack unharmed, but also to counterattack with a skill. The exhilaration of successively parrying an opponent's attack with Just Parry and counterattacking with a skill is exceptional.

There are also many other ways to counter enemy attacks, such as "Just Evade," which allows you to avoid enemy attacks at the last possible moment, and "Blink," which allows you to counter certain attacks.

However, the damage taken from enemies is generally high in this game. Even the slightest attack from a zombie enemy on the street is not foolproof. When it comes to bosses, every move you make can be fatal, and if you attack, defend, evade, or counter at the wrong time, you will be backed into a corner in an instant.

Game Over Screen

The strength of the Just Parry has already been explained, but it is by no means an invincible technique. If a player fails to perform a Just Parry, he is exposed to the opponent's attack, and if he does poorly, he may end up dead. It is a high-risk, high-return system that offers great benefits when successful, but the risks cannot be ignored.

Just parry is so important in this game that it is almost indispensable, so once you find a base, it is a good idea to fight nearby enemies to get a feel for parry. Taking a rest at the base will always restore the normal native, so you can use this to practice in real battles as much as you like.

The balance of the game is high in terms of difficulty, almost like a "game of death," in which you repeatedly challenge and die, but there is little penalty for retrying. There is always a base for recovery before a boss battle, where you are sure to die many times, and even if the game is over, you can start over from there. In addition, there is no negative factor such as losing the experience gained up to that point, so it is nice to be able to die without hesitation.

Strengthen Eve by learning skills and replacing equipment.

Trial and error is the shortcut to improvement in this game, and skills can raise the level of some of the player's abilities. Skills are divided into different categories, such as "Beta" and "Survival," and are mainly useful in combat, such as enhancing Beta skills and Just Parry. In particular, the Just Parry skill is a fundamental element of the game, so it is important to learn the relevant skills as a priority.

From the skill learning screen, "Training" is also available. Here, you can try out as many techniques as you like on enemies. You can also practice Just Parry here.

The SP required to learn a skill is accumulated when the experience gained from defeating enemies and completing quests reaches a certain level. In particular, the amount of SP gained from quests is quite large, and in this review, there were times when 3 or 4 SP were gained all at once from completing a single quest. It is a good idea to actively accept requests from people not only to enhance your understanding of the world and immersion in the story, but also to increase your SP.

Skill setting can only be done in the bases located in different parts of the country.

There are also "exospines," which can significantly change Eve's performance when equipped, and "gear," which can be customized in detail, allowing players to decide whether to focus on attack or defense depending on the combination. In this highly challenging game, it is important to strengthen Eve, so use this gear as much as you can once you have it.

Exospine and other strengthening materials can be obtained by defeating enemies, obtaining them from containers, or buying them at the store.

The battles and story unfold in a harsh world, battles in which a single blow can be fatal and players must use parry and other techniques to fight back, and frequent changes in locations and situations to keep players engaged in the action adventure experience. If you are a skilled action player or just want to play a challenging action game, this is the game for you.

• Title Information
• Stellar Blade
• Compatibility: PS5
• Price: 8980 yen (including tax)
• Maker: Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Genre: Action Adventure
• https://www.playstation.com/ja-jp/games/stellar-blade/

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