{"id":63107,"date":"2024-04-24T06:54:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T06:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ginx.tv\/review-25"},"modified":"2024-07-19T15:12:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:12:52","slug":"review-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ginx.tv\/en\/stellar-blade\/review","title":{"rendered":"Stellar Blade Review: What You See Is What You Get"},"content":{"rendered":"
Stellar Blade is a game that knows its strengths and weaknesses and plays by it. Its story borrows the skeleton but not the soul of its biggest muse, Nier Automata. However, Stellar Blade’s riveting gameplay and eye-candy of a protagonist unwaveringly carries its 30-hour adventure to its undeniable conclusion. <\/span><\/p>\n One of the reasons why Stellar Blade has garnered so much attention is due to its provocative protagonist, Eve. In an era where most western AAA games have transitioned to depicting more realistic facial and body proportions of its main characters, Stellar Blade takes a more orthodox approach, portraying a more idealistic-looking character who can, in otaku terminology, be called a “waifu.”<\/span><\/p>\n Naturally, Eve’s idealistic appearance has <\/span>been heavily criticized<\/span> since the game’s reveal, and rightly so, but as someone who has never been offended by the appearance of a video game character, I went into Stellar Blade with a neutral mindset. That said, I also wasn’t expecting Eve to be a multi-layered character that I could empathize with, and that remains true even after spending more than 30 hours by her side exploring the desolate wastelands of Stellar Blade. <\/span><\/p>\n Eve isn’t human, which is <\/span>an indolent<\/span> way of saying she has no personality. But non-human characters can also have unique identities, as evident from games like Nier Automata with 2B and her numerous stoic justifications and Persona 3<\/a> with Aigis and her endearing nature. <\/span><\/p>\n Sadly, Eve has none of that. It’s not like the game doesn’t try to establish Eve as a lively character. It just fails to. <\/span>There’s one moment early <\/span>on<\/span> in the game when Eve visits a hair salon, and the barber imprudently calls her hairstyle dull. It’s there where you sense a hint of insecurity in Eve’s voice, and after you have completed a side quest for the barber, which unlocks the option to change Eve’s hairstyle, she asks him firmly to style her hair and make sure it isn’t dull anymore. Moments like these are rare, which is a shame because they would have added much more color to Eve’s personality. <\/span><\/p>\n Instead, Stellar Blade presents Eve solely as an eye candy “angel,” who you play dress up with. <\/span>There are<\/span> several gorgeous hairstyles <\/span>you can choose from and <\/span>multiple<\/span> endearing outfits (except a few fan-servicey ones), and accessories that let you glam up your objectively pretty version of Eve.<\/span><\/p>\n For better or worse, tweaking Eve’s appearance is the highlight of Stellar Blade, aside from the game’s combat, which I’ll get to in a moment. <\/span><\/p>\n Suffice it to say, most of Eve’s outfits and accessories <\/span>are intricately designed<\/span>, and I had <\/span>fun finding blueprints for every one of them and farming resources to craft them. <\/span><\/p>\n It’s absurd how many outfits Shift Up has designed for Eve in this game. If Stellar Blade was a live-service title, these outfits could have cost $20 each, and no one would have batted an eye (well, maybe). As such, it’s commendable that Shift Up put so much time and effort into designing so many unique and pretty-looking outfits for Eve, which you can unlock for free. I <\/span>just<\/span> wish the studio had put a similar amount of effort into making Eve <\/span>not just pretty, but <\/span>prominent in her own story. <\/span><\/p>\nIs Stellar Blade’s Eve a good protagonist?<\/h2>\n
How Nier-esque is Stellar Blade’s story?<\/span><\/h2>\n