Video Game Review | ‘Stellar Blade’ Comes to PC
Even as a recent convert to PC gaming, I’ve already had multiple experiences with horrible PC ports. (As much as I love it, Monster Hunter Wilds comes first to mind.) That’s why I was very impressed to experience Shift Up’s port of their first AAA game, Stellar Blade, because it puts plenty of others to shame. The game first came out as a PlayStation 5 exclusive last year and finally made its way to a broader audience — so, for the purposes of this review, I want to focus solely on the PC port, not the game as a whole. Additionally, the game was originally released amid controversy over the design of its lead character, Eve (I’ll let my screenshots speak for themselves), and I’d rather not step in that.
Stellar Blade follows Eve, last surviving member of the 7th Airborne Squad as she fights in a post-apocalyptic Earth to hunt down the monstrous Elder Naytiba and save humanity. Challenges, secrets, and horrors abound in the plot, though its execution is hindered by mostly serviceable voice acting and a somewhat dull main character. The game truly shines in its action, with heavy-hitting combos, a beyond satisfying parry, and some of the best combat animations in recent memory.
As for the port itself, it’s the best new PC port I’ve experienced since I started playing PC. I’m running it on an RTX 4070 Super with 32 gigs of RAM at max settings, and the largest issues I ran into were sparse audio glitches and lagging, where it sounds like TV static while the rest of the game runs smoothly. I was consistently hitting 60 frames even in the depths of combat against multiple enemies.
Stellar Blade’s been called a discount Nier Automata — a comparison that is backed up by an actual Nier crossover DLC that lets you dress Eve up like 2B — and while that is truly an apt description when looking solely at story, I prefer the combat of Stellar Blade. So, if you like solid action games, banging soundtracks, and gorgeous visuals, I recommend Stellar Blade on the PC.
Stellar Blade is available on Steam, the Epic store, and the Playstation Store.
