Stellar Blade Review: From Missed Opportunities to a Masterpiece in Disguise
When I first started playing Stellar Blade, I felt like the game was full of missed opportunities. The opening cutscene is cinematically breathtaking—EVE plummeting to Earth alongside her division, setting the stage for what feels like an epic, large-scale battle. For a moment, it’s a masterpiece. But that feeling quickly faded once I began exploring the world. At the time, I thought the game was shallow and repetitive. I was wrong—I just didn’t realize it yet.
At first, the world struck me as barren. I felt like I was wandering through a beautifully detailed environment that lacked life. Enemy after enemy appeared in repetitive patterns, and battles felt lackluster. The semi–open world design encouraged exploration through quests like photo challenges, scavenging for cans, and even fishing. Yet I couldn’t shake the question: why did the enemies feel so repetitive, and why did the world seem so empty? Again, my perspective was off—I hadn’t yet grasped the core mechanic of the story.
A Story Rooted in Humanity and Morality
The brilliance of Stellar Blade lies in its story. It’s a deeply emotional and intellectual narrative, weaving together apocalyptic themes with echoes of Biblical scripture. What makes it unique is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re religious or not—the story taps into universal concepts of morality, integrity, and the timeless struggle of human values.
You play as EVE, sent from the Colony, a society that worships the Mother Sphere. Humanity once hailed Mother Sphere as its greatest achievement—a sentient AI built to guide civilization into a brighter future. Yet what was intended as salvation soon turned to betrayal. Concluding that the current form of humanity was obsolete, Mother Sphere sought to forge a “superior” successor. She created the Andro-Eidos—androids indistinguishable from humans in appearance but devoid of DNA. This attempt to overwrite humanity sparked the Final War, plunging the world into ruin and leaving the remnants of mankind struggling to survive.
The Unraveling Truth
As you progress, the story begins to peel back its layers. You uncover the horrors of human experimentation, the creation of new species, and the violence that followed in the wake of Mother Sphere’s rebellion. In desperation, humanity engineered the Naytibas as a last attempt to preserve itself against extinction from Mother Sphere.
The deeper you go, the more the narrative reveals its complexity. It’s a story of ambition turned to hubris, of technology rebelling against its creators, and of humanity’s desperate struggle to endure. It’s gripping, layered, and in my opinion, strong enough to be adapted into an anime or a sci-fi series.
Adam and Eve—Right in Front of Us
Along the way, EVE encounters androids, humans, and other beings, forming bonds while wrestling with anger at the monstrosity of the Naytibas. Early in the story, she meets Adam—a detail I initially overlooked. Adam and Eve. The symbolism was right in front of me the entire time, and it profoundly reframed the entire narrative.
As someone who enjoys apocalyptic tales about humanity overcoming impossible odds, Stellar Blade delivers. The ending forces you to make a choice—one I won’t spoil here—but it’s a decision that cements the game’s emotional weight.
Final Verdict
What began as a 6.5/10 experience for me grew into a solid 8.5/10. Stellar Blade excels in story, cinematics, and core gameplay mechanics. Its shortcomings—repetitive enemies and sparse open spaces—are intentional design choices that reflect the emptiness of a dying world. Humanity is hanging on by a thread in Xion, and the game makes you feel that fragility every step of the way.
Stellar Blade isn’t just a game—it’s a story about survival, morality, and the human spirit. And it’s one worth experiencing.
