Stellar Blade | Hype Check
With ShiftUp’s Stellar Blade now only a few days away, we wanted to touch base with some of our team to see how they’re feeling about the game. We’ve seen a range of media up to this point, from gameplay showcases and trailers, we’ve seen the press releases, and heard the talk, but how are we feeling? That’s where we’re bringing Hype Check into the mix; to get a gauge on what the prospective players are thinking. So here’s how we’re feeling about Stellar Blade.
Matt Hewson
Look, the trailers haven’t really impressed me. I am getting real “B-tier Action” vibes and it isn’t grabbing me at all. I can’t see this one winning any awards and as much as I would love to be proven wrong, I reckon this one is going to flop.
Renee O'flynn
Ignoring the controversy, I find that Stellar Blade is looking very mid. 3rd person action games aren’t exactly hard to come by and it seems like there’s plenty out there that do a better job than this one. I feel like there were some amazing and unique ones during the 360/PS3 era. I know I really enjoyed Wet, despite its terrible name. I really don’t like the way the hair looks either, I’m not sure why, just makes me feel a bit ick.
Paul James
I usually eye-roll at games like Stellar Blade because the conversation usually begins and ends with the protagonist’s “assets”, and the gameplay substance is lost in the puerile talk – and so I normally switch off. Thanks to PlayStation though, I got to check out the demo prior to the mass launch and I was incredibly impressed by what was there. It’s more Soulslike than I realised, and so the difficulty thing was a concern, but an easy mode arrested that concern. It looks great, it sounds great, and despite the community behaviour, the game itself isn’t too in-your-face about Eve’s body – I’m right here for it.
Jason Hawkins
When I was younger I managed to keep well clear of any controversies around games. I love Bayonetta, but as a 40 year old man in the mid 2020’s there’s a lot more discussion to be had, but I am certainly not the one equipped for it. The way Eve’s sexuality is portrayed is a lot, and it stirs up all sorts of discussions. Behind all of that though is a game that I really want to enjoy. Soulslikes are very much my forte and I’ll never get tired of all the nuances that each one has. As Paul said, if the game has something else going on besides pandering to the male gaze, then I am very interested.
Stephen del Prado
This has real ‘generic action game with sexy waifu protag’ written all over it, which might make a mint with bikini costume microtransactions but rarely sets the world on fire critically. I’m not one to sneer at such fan service-y content generally, but ideally it has the action chops to back it up. Definitely a ‘play them demo first’ game for me, we’ll see where it lands on launch.
How are you feeling about the rapidly impending launch of Stellar Blade!? Let us know on our various social channels!
