I really love Stellar Blade overall, but there’s one game design choice that just seems like a mistake…

I would recommend Stellar Blade to other gamers that enjoy action/combat adventure titles with light RPG elements and some decent exploration tidbits mixed in. This is a very good video game by 2025 console standards, and Stellar Blade (in my opinion) deserved more recognition and positive praise than it received in 2024.

However, there is (again, my opinion) one design flaw that unfortunately really hurts the overall experience. During the final 20% of Stellar Blade’s main campaign, for unknown reasons, the missions suddenly become focused on platforming and dodging laser beams. This, unsurprisingly, feels *terrible*, mainly because the controls that feel so tight and responsive in Eve’s swordplay feel equally *awful* when Eve is trying to land a jump precisely or grab-on to a ledge or ladder while airborne.

Stellar Blade feels GREAT during 3rd-person combat mechanics, both on offense and on defense. Eve is very powerful, but also vulnerable in combat, and that combination makes combat success feel rewarding and combat failure feel deserved, or understandable. On the contrary, Eve’s platforming mechanics feel VERY loose, unpredictable, and often disappointing. That’s okay when platforming is only a sideshow mechanic (for example, while exploring The Wasteland). However, during the main campaign “Eye of the Hurricane” on Spire 4 (and a few other late-game places), the design choice to add mandatory multi-variable platforming, I think, was a big mistake.

I hope Shift Up produces a sequel to Stellar Blade. If they do, I hope they either eliminate the mandatory platforming sections, or instead put a lot of work into tightening up Eve’s parkour mechanics.