Stellar Blade doesn’t try to do too much to move the needle in the action-adventure genre space. There’s not a lot to like about it, and it only does a few things right. You either like it for its combat or you’re into it for, well, Eve’s outfits. I’ve already put together a separate guide for the latter, highlighting all the outfits. We’re here to discuss Stellar Blade’s combat now, which, many find it similar to a Soulslike.
I’ve spent a few good hours in Stellar Blade, and I’m here to tell you that’s it’s not a Soulslike. It’s not even remotely close to a Soulslike game, in my opinion. Let me explain.
No weapon choices for Eve
Popular Soulslike games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls offers an abundance of weapons to its players. Just to put things into perspective, FromSoftware’s Elden Ring has over 300 weapons, and DS 1, DS 2, and DS3 have each has 120, 220, and 190 weapons, respectively. Those figures don’t even include hundreds of Talisman, and Staves you can collect.
Stellar Blade, on the other hand, only gives its players a sword. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a great sword and I prefer using it for melee over the game’s rather underwhelming ranged combat, but it’s nothing compared to the choices you get in a typical Soulslike game. Being able to choose from a selection of solid weapons and getting used to them for challenging combat is what makes a great Soulslike title.
I believe this is a good time to mention FromSoftware’s ‘Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice,’ which only offers a Katana to its players. While Sekiro shares a lot of similarities with a Soulsborne game, it’s not necessarily considered to be one. If anything I’d say Stellar Blade and Sekiro fall into the same bucket, containing games that play with the familiar concept of a Soulslike, and they all elements which simply don’t translate well into traditional Souls gameplay.
Combat is very forgiving
Another aspect of Stellar Blade which disqualifies it from the Soulslike status is its combat. I feel like it’s simply too forgiving. I personally find Stellar Blade to be a bit forgiving even in its ‘Normal’ difficulty mode, because there are times when I’ve seen Eve eat some deadly blows and still stand on her feet. That’s just a rare sight in games like Elden Ring, in which even a small mistake can trigger the infamous “YOU DIED” splash screen.
That’s not to say playing Stellar Blade is like taking a walk in the park. There are times when I’ve died to bosses or even regular foes on my way to a chest, but none of those deaths came through the way of a deadly blow or a really powerful attack from an enemy that I was scared to face again. And that brings me to my next point, in which I want to highlight how deaths — or your mistakes — aren’t punished enough.
You don’t get punished for mistakes
That’s right, dying in Stellar Blade is not nearly as punishing as it is Soulslike games. That’s because games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring gives you a certain resource or currency that can be used at rest points to upgrade your character. Unused resources are dropped at the spot of your death, and you have to manually retrieve them before you can use them. That also means that these resources are permanently lost if you die again before retrieving.
There is no such element in Stellar Blade, which makes it more forgiving. In fact, there is no penalty at all for dying in Stellar Blade as you either respawn back at the last camp you rested with all your resources and health replenished, or you restart a boss fight with your health replenished.
Stellar Blade is still a great game, though
Stellar Blade is still a pretty good game that requires you to put in some hours into it before you can get comfortable facing the Naytibas. You also have to stay alert and active during fights in order to learn and tackle your enemy’s attack patterns. Not to mention, there’s also a massive skill tree to fill up and learn new moves and fighting techniques, so there’s plenty of fun to be had in Stellar Blade, and there’s more to it than just skin tight latex suits. It’s just not a Soulslike game, in my honest opinion, and it’s perfectly fine and completely playable as it is.
