The Stellar Blade demo is live ahead of the new PS5 console-exclusive action game from SHIFTUP’s launch on April 26th. The Stellar Balde demo holds the opening hour of the game, including multiple boss fights and some light exploration. It surprised me in more than a few ways. After seeing Stellar Blade for the last few years at different PlayStation events and State of Plays, I was expecting fast-action combat akin to Bayonetta or Devil May Cry.
Stellar Blade actually feels closer to Dark Souls or Elden Ring, as Eve is slower and hits harder than her long pony-tailed contemporary, Bayonetta. Your attacks need to be timed properly, and you’ll wear in the parry button very quickly. I was already excited about Stellar Blade, and after the demo, I feel like I better understand what this game actually is.
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The demo kicks off with a number of space ships arriving at Earth. A planetary shield seems to prevent them from entering. Suddenly, a barrage of missiles fly from the planet’s surface, tearing through the armada. A number of escape pods jettison, flying towards ground. This is where we take control of Eve, stuck in a pod after landing. Tachy, leader of the troupe Eve lands with, frees her, and the two set off towards a rendezvous point.
The story, so far, is hard to completely piece together. From what I can tell, Eve and company are some sort of military force. They arrive to go up against the Naytibas – monsters dwelling on Earth. The group is after something called an Elder Naytiba, which I’m assuming to be the leader. Fighting through various Naytiba grunts along the way, Eve and Tachy run up a long hill. This section was really cool, as explosions go off all around you. Buildings crumble and fall in your path. Missiles light up the ground after every step. It’s huge and feels like a set piece out of a futuristic Uncharted.
The happiness after reaching the rest of the squad is short-lived, as they’re locked in battle with an Alpha Naytiba and get crushed by falling debris. The Alpha Naytiba survives, and it’s up to Eve and Tachy to take it out. The monster design is incredible and disgusting. The Naytiba is hulking and grotesque, with massive spiked balls for hands that it uses to try and crush you.
I will say, the Stellar Blade demo is a lot more bloody and gory than I was expecting. Limbs fly off, blood gushes from attacks, and there is more than a few folks get impaled. The boss fight against the Alpha Naytiba is tense and exciting. Your parries are integral to surviving. You’ll need to learn to read the boss’s attacks and time your dodges appropriately because even a few hits will drain health quickly.
Eve has a light and heavy attack, and swapping between the two will activate different combos. Holding L1 will open up the special Beta attacks, and pressing a corresponding face button will hit enemies hard. The demo starts you off with two – a piercing forward strike and a charged sweeping strike that does more damage around you. You build Beta with attacks, parries, and dodges. I unlocked another one by the demo’s end – a double shockwave that flies toward the enemy for a ranged attack.
Each enemy has a health bar, shield bar, and balance meter, Stellar Blade‘s answer to a stagger bar. Using perfect parries drains the balance meter. Emptying it out makes an enemy lose their balance, making them groggy and opening up critical hits called Retributions that do massive damage or kill enemies entirely.
After taking out the Alpha Naytiba, Tachy and Eve are quickly ambushed by another. This one, a massive crow-like creature, lunges at the two. Eve is weak after the last battle, and Tachy sacrifices herself to protect Eve. We cut to later on, where Eve is arriving at Eidos 7, a massive city known as the final battlefield of civilization. Adam is next to her, a scavenger that saved her earlier. Adam accompanies Eve out into the city in drone form, as she needs to pay him back for saving her life. The two are trying to get to a hall of records.
Eve sets out into the city. The environmental design here is impressive – decaying buildings and debris lead the way. There’s some light exploration off the beaten path that leads to better items and upgrade materials. Enemies litter the way until you get to a rest point. Here, Eve can sit and relax, healing, but at the cost of enemy respawns. You can also upgrade your skills. There are three skill trees at first – attack, beta, and survival – with two more that are locked. You can also buy items before setting back out.
The trip across the city involves locked doors that need passcodes to open, rooftops to jump across, and poles to swing from. The path forward, at least at first, is pretty linear, with a few spots to investigate along the way. This eventually culminates with a massive boss battle, Abaddon, a Naytiba with a split face and electric swords. It’s a huge fight that ends the demo in a satisfying way.
So far, the Stellar Blade demo has intrigued me. The aesthetic and setup are incredibly reminiscent of Nier – scantily clad androids (I think?) take on enemies in a post-apocalyptic future. The combat may be slower than I was expecting, but I can see the skill trees augmenting that a lot. Even in the first hour, you unlock ways to get around enemies quickly and score some additional hits. The story has me curious, even though it’s hard to understand in its opening hour. How did Earth end up in this state? What are the Naytiba? Has Adam and others like him survived on Earth while others left to the stars? What new enemies, skills, and set pieces await around the next corner? I’m excited to find out.
Stellar Blade launches on April 26, 2024, exclusively on PS5, you can play the latest demo out here.
