Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Stellar Blade?

Is double D a legit review score?

It’s a 9 for me! It is so much fun and Eve is adorably sweet. Maybe not as challenging as I hoped it would be, as it gets a lot easier as you get new abilities and equip, but that is my main gripe. The Italian dub is significantly better than the English one, so I switched to it. Will try Korean for NG+

I’m just here for the booby jokes.

9 so far just awesome will NG + aswell

I just got to the desert section and I'm bored out of my mind. The game was definitely more fun when it was trying to be more linear

Definitely a 9, sometimes an 8. It's no Nier Automata though so not sure what Yoko Taro was smoking.

Solid 8. The platforming stuff can be enraging (grab the DAMN ROPE, EVE!) but I’m enjoying my time with the game so far.

Only thing that could top this for me on ps5 this year would be a full fat ASTRO game (or bloodborne 2.. which isn't happening).

Solid 9, maybe more of a 93/94 if I was using double digits. The game has some flaws but the whole package is outstanding!

Just picked up my copy today.
Excited to see how it is as really enjoyed the demo.

10/10 only because the discourse around it lmao 🤣

It's a 7....If you can use fractional scoring I'd go 6.8. It's not bad, it does well what it does well, but it's so generic, character designs aside, it hurts, while also trying so hard to clone the feel of Automata. A budget-indie VA and control jank are just not an 8 in any way. It remains a mid-tier title bolstered by excessive marketing and controversy hype.

Before the haters start ranting, if Liam can give Ronin a 6, I can give SB a 6.8.

@tameshiyaku A newer 2B naturally has to be 2D!

It's just fun. 9 for me

I like it a lot. There's a bit of control jank and some sidequests are pretty meh so an 8 from me as of now.

I was going to give up due to the difficulty but I stuck it out and followed some advice from some users on here, I've just beaten Gigas and now exploring the wasteland and having a blast. So it's a 7 so far from me but im sure when (or if) I complete the game it will be much higher.

I’m only five hours in, but it’s an easy 9 for me so far. It is so mechanically sound, and the combat has a certain crunch about it that is very satisfying. I also enjoy the exploration. Shift Up has done a great job with their first console game.

it's a 9
solid gameplay, excellent presentation, great music and extremelly polished.
All outfits being unlockable and not mtx is absolutely refreshing.

If it keeps up. Definitely a 9. Would give it a 10 but since it's not actually like a soulslike really, I feel it could do with a way better narrative. It's not that bad but man some of the dialog is so stiff. And i quite like eve as a protagonist. She has little moments like 2b in the banter and side quests that just make her likeable

And from a game play standpoint, it's amazing. Have no clue what people mean by horrible platforming but maybe I just haven't reached those points yet. Horrible platforming to me is the final extra dungeon in FFXV when the game wasn't designed for movement puzzles and jumping. This nails it. Combat is satisfying with tons of moves to use. And a few different play styles when you mix in stealth and the gun with different ammo types. It's fun to explore and the level design is great. Excellent art design and soundtrack too. This really blew away my expectations. I actually thought it would be like lost soul aside and never release lol

For me, it’s a 9 all day long. I have absolutely no idea how there’s people here rating it at 5 and under. Like, what?!

@NEStalgia What would Stellar Blade need to do to boost that bad boy (girl?) up to a 6.9? Just curious.

A 9 from me only let down by some fiddly controls.

25 hours in and it’s a 9 so far. Very impressive game and a lot of fun.

7.5

The gameplay, particularly combat is fun, and I didn't find the voice acting as bad as many reviewers suggested (it's pretty average, and still miles ahead of truly awful ones coughXenobladeChronicles2).

The downsides are some of the puzzle-platform sections, the otherwise-fun combat becoming very samey towards the end of the game (scattered boss fights really becoming the only highlight), and the previously serviceable story falling off a cliff in the final stretch - from late datalog entries including revelations from dialogue that were not, in fact, revealed (despite them being quite obvious by that point) and the more interesting sidequest subplots just fizzling out without any sense of resolution.

8/10 from me. The platforming, characters (except Lily she's great), story and writing are pretty bad with it basically being a poor version of Automata but the combat, music and visuals are fantastic. I also love the exploration side of the game, it actually feels good to explore and the open world map is way denser then it first appears. Haven't finished it yet but so far yeah its a really good game just with a few noticeable flaws.

10.
It is the top game for its category/this genre of games. Also, I don't judge a game based on how "perfect" it is but how much fun I've had.
It's also why I really love Nintendo games.

@NEStalgia A 6 for Rise of the Ronin is absolutely criminal,
I really enjoy Stellar Blade but I'd give it 7, there's something missing, can't quite say what it is,
Maybe the bad narrative and/or janky platforming,
But ya know it's their first swing and certainly didn't miss

I'd give it a solid 9. Combat is a lot of fun, music is nice and the world looks beautiful. Side quests are really bleh and the platforming can be a little janky. I'm at the point of no return and will likely finish the game either tonight or tomorrow night.

A lot of fun!

@DennisReynolds Is the story and characters really not in your way for you to be giving it an 8?

A solid 8, questionable English VA and level designs aside; accessible fluid combat, great characters, extremely fun boss fights, and Keiichi Okabe's god tier soundtracks made Shift Up maiden's voyage on a console game a home run.

Let's be objective here...what score would you people have given it if this game was a multiplatform title instead of just a PlayStation exclusive.

I say this game would have gotten a solid 7.5 out of 10.0

I'm on a 9 at the moment but I gotta say if it keeps it up I might even bump up to a 10! It's flawless performance-wise. Combat is really fun. Music is incredible. Fantastic enemy variety which is a must in games like this. The lore is actually pretty interesting too even if it's not necessarily the most original. I've even found the platforming to be refreshingly challenging as opposed to frustrating. Exploration is quite satisfying most of the time.

My only gripe is that you have to travel to the tetrapod first every time you want to travel to a new area once the game opens up a bit more. It takes bit too much time to get where you want to go. The English VO is also a bit rough in spots although I've certainly heard worse.

All in all I love this game. Great work Shift Up!

@Uromastryx Yeah, I'm kind of shocked at the 6 for Ronin. I haven't played it yet, but nothing I've seen is a 6. Another 7 maybe, but 6 seems harsh for what looks competent if not exceptional. But we seem to have pretty similar thoughts on SB as well!

@Ralizah The Nintendo solutions of petting games and incest could always work. Maybe put a pole next to the save chair?

Seriously, though any notable changes would of course boost it more than 0.1, but that doesn't mean it would land evenly on a .0 either. People talk about the localized VA. The Korean VA isn't particularly great either, Korea has lots of brutally overtrained actors. These are not those. I think a granular rating more than 10 fixed points helps draw a line of where something sits. "6" seems too punishing for a game that does do some core things well and does technical things very well (but...that latency.....), 8 is way too high for a game with amateur hour glaring flaws and a soulless generic world. 7, I think puts too high a gloss on the rough edges, again, the hollow coptycat world of it just does not deserve a 7 in any universe, it lacks identity beyond the controversial underwear model characters. I'd feel harsh with a 6.5 given what it does do well, feel too generous with a 7 given what it misses the mark in a big way on. Thus the 6.8 places it on a visual scale, of "things hold it back from 7 material, but it's not super far from that mark otherwise." Putting it in the 6 bracket conveys it's not a legendary game by any stretch, it has glaring flaws, it's very much mid-tier fare, but it's competent enough that it's only held slightly behind that 7 range that really starts the territory of remarkable games.

Like I said if I were forced to round up, I'd give a 7 because a 6 seems unfair, even though I really want to look at something below a 7. I don't think a 10% range between 6 and 7 is enough to convey the nuance of right where it is on the scale. The 8 is as much a joke as PJ OReily giving Dragon's Dogma 2 a 10/10 while it stutters and stammers and repeats enemies every 5 seconds while selling fast travel for cash. Speaking of Haze, I'm convinced if reviewed by the current crowd it would be a solid 8

@NEStalgia "The 8 is as much a joke as PJ OReily giving Dragon's Dogma 2 a 10/10 while it stutters and stammers"

In fairness, the highest-rated game of all time ran around 20fps most of the time.

So what 10s would you give away, out of curiosity?

@dskatter yes, agreed, it goes from awesome to rage-inducing once you have to stick a tricky jump

People really are starving for games if they think this is more than a 7. 😂

@NEStalgia You have been one of the most vocal here with your bashing of it from the start, so I'm having a hard time believing you've played it, let alone bought the game at full price.

I went with an 8, I think that's a fair score. I have loved the overall character design throughout, and the combat and music are excellent.

@UltimateOtaku91 I assume you have it on story mode, make sure you go into the settings and set it to automatically complete QTEs. It doesn’t seem “automatic”, but it makes perfect dodge and parry a lot easier. Also go into the settings and adjust the QTE timing so that it gives you a screen prompt and more time. You can also go to the skills screen, choose a skill and press square. You can practice everything without risk. Hope that helps!

I chose 9. I’m totally loving this game. It’s like Nier Automata, DMC, God of War, and the classic “Gall Force” anime all rolled into one! You can choose less “distracting” outfits if that’s not your thing.

@ppitchfork Thanks for the tip, I didn't think about the automatic QTE option although il keep it off for now until I get to the next boss.

@Nepp67 What do you mean? The highs outweigh the lows, if the story and characters were good it would be a 9/10 but as it is its a 8.

@Yorozayu I don't know which camp that is, I've just done the tower that restores power to waste land camps and been doing the side quests in the area around that.

8 for me. The gameplay is super fun it’s just let down by a few issues that stop the whole experience being exceptional. I will say though for a first attempt at an AAA game, Shift Up have done a truly incredible job. I haven’t completed it yet so don’t know if the story opens itself up to a sequel but if it does, I can’t wait to see how they iterate on this!

Ended up getting the Plat yesterday. Point of no return really sucks, "forcing" you to do all side content in one go mid game, which gets boring at some point, before being able to continue with the story. This only of course if you are aiming for the plat.

Platforming is clunky as hell at times, 90% side quest are bleh
Combat, music, and art style are the highlights of the game.

So it's a good game overall, but with some evident flaws. So nothing that mind blowing

@tweaknmod boob jokes huh? Alright I'll try my breast

@tweaknmod What did one saggy boob say to the other saggy boob? If we don't get some support soon, people are going to think we're nuts.

Stellar Blade is just a perfect 10

@tweaknmod Have you ever wondered why A, B, C, D, DD, E and F are the letters used to define bra sizes? If you have wondered why, but couldn't figure out what the letters stood for... It is about time you became informed:

A ... Almost Boobs

B ... Barely there.

C ... Can't Complain!

D ... Damn!

DD... Double damn!

E ... Enormous!

F ... Fake

I'll give her 1!!!

I'll tell you when I get it on Monday. Played the demo again today. If the demo is reflective I'm going to have a blast

@DennisReynolds I mean is the game light on its story aspects, like similar to DMC where the story isn't really its main focus.

I always have to laugh at the trolls who intentionally vote a quality, well-made game like this below a 5. I can see people who aren’t fans of the game thinking it’s derivative or ‘average’. But to call it anything less than that is absolutely laughable and absurd. gave it a 9 myself after only 15 hours into it. As for Eve herself? Perfect 10 and some of those outfits are just 🤪😍🤪. I wish Western developers weren’t afraid to make their female protagonists that easy on the eyes….

I think around 99% of peaple who playied Stellar blade never playeid Nier. Its exactly the same game, even the locations ( im looking to you desert suspended vilage), and thats is weird.

"Game is playable with barely any glitches and bugs
Great graphics
Amazing soundtrack
Unique boss battles
Amazing physics
Plenty of costumes to choose from
Appealing cast of characters
Gameplay is pretty reminiscent of the old games where you can enjoy it from start to finish

......But the game has censorship so 1/10 "

@Nepp67 No the story is a big focus like Nier Automata its just it fails in being good.

I give it a 9 and so far it’s my favorite game this year and I’ve played all the big ones.

It's a 4 for me! because yeah sex appeal is great, but the story is very predictable and bland. The actual gameplay is sloppy, if you ever played Drakengard 3, the clunky controls in that game will be the same so in short it's tolerable but frustrating. The score for the game is inconsistent one moment you have jazz, you have K-pop and then you go to another area and now you have electro-pop. The director said a ton of games inspired him so that you can see a mash-pit of other games in this one title but unlike Neir: Automata it's all over the place and is more of a nuisance than anything to praise.

10 for me. I have no complaints. I thought thw platforming was wonky at first but after playing a while I no longer think so.
Too many upsides to this game to start listing but overall its pretty much flawless. Looking forward to bossrush mode!

It's a 9. I can actually see people based on their own preferences reasonably rating this as low as a 7 or even as high as a 10 for other reasons, but quite honestly anything below a 7 to me just seems like there's more baggage there. It's got simply exceptional gameplay, and that's the most important factdor for me, easily. I don't even understand people who say the gameplay is clunky, it's nowhere near clunky and in fact most professional reviewers, even those who don't favor the game, single out the gameplay as the exceptional part of the game.

I'm feeling a strong 8 right now, but I gave it a 9 on the poll. We'll see how the rest of the year plays out, but right now it's the lead for my GOTY runner up.
(Because nothing is going to top FF7 Rebirth)

Are all PS exclusives excellent or do PS owners overrate some of them because they're PS exclusives?

Kind of like a proud parent thing going on maybe?

@Lup yeah right, who would have thought different people can like different types of games eh? Some people love souls types games and deem them a 10 all day long. Others may prefer platrormers and give them an equally high score. Some might prefer single player action focussed games releasing without any bugs, looking great and having a blast with the combat, varied enemies and great soundtrack.

Obviously 81% of those polled are wrong according to you as they scored it an 8 or above.

Any chance you can educate us all on why we shouldn’t be enjoying this game?

@Madnurz

Enjoy it all you want, man. I also enjoy a lot of 6s and 7s.

@GeeForce Who cares? It's considered a great game from everyone else.

@Lup Please do tell us more about how that game you 100% haven’t played is a 6/10

@Tchunga the section after the desert is linear again. And I am about finished with it and I think it’ll open back up. Seems to alternate between the two.

@GeeEssEff @Madnurz I wouldn't bother, he's clearly a troll after looking through his previous comments on this site. All he does is bash anything to do with playstation and basically admitted he plays on other consoles and sees no reason to return to playstation. He's just mega salty there's a lot of great playstation exclusives releasing right now, yet nothing elsewhere.

@Ralizah That's a tough question. A perfect score should be almost impossible to achieve. Very few games can be said to be virtually flawless. And we have to dig deep into to past to find many. I think modern games have a much harder time achieving that perfection because they try to do more than they ought to and it ends up harming rather than helping the result.

Keeping in mind this is relative to the era of the game and representative of the genres there's two Icould name easily. Fallout 2, Baldurs Gate 2. Both games nailed every single thing they tried to achieve, represented the very best of the genre, were technically solid, great world, environment, minute to minute gameplay. Finding flaws there is hair splitting.

Diablo 2. Even its own series has failed to live up to it's mastery of the genre, and while great siblings have been made, none surpassed it.

More modern games. I'm it's current form? NMS. It's an easy win with pretty much nothing left to complain about. It's nailed everything it does and lacks for nothing. That's unfair though because at launch it was a 4.6 if I'm feeling generous.

Elden Ring. I don't actually like Soulsborne. But on a objective level that game is simply special. It nails what sets out to do with precision and style and out-botws botw in capturing a lot of what made Zelda 2 great in it's day in a modern style. It's not entirely my cup of tea personally, but I can recognize the greatness of it all the same.

Mario Odyssey. It's a hard one to compare to other things because it's practically the sole representation of its genre these days. But preferences aside on one thing or another, I can really find no actual faults with it, it's excellent across the board. Though want to dock it for that jump rope lol. Honorable mention to R&C PS4 id give it the 10, but as a remake that gets a little unfair. I'd score it higher than rift for sure though.

If we look at the genre of this, character action games, is there any series that deserves a perfect score? It's hard to compare because there's so many little subgenres to it. DMC, the older ones, probably still reign supreme but are they 10s? Best in genre still doesn't mean flawless. I'd have to think on that one more though.

I’m only a couple of hours in so far, but so far it’s a solid 8. There’s things I love and things I think could be better. It’s no Nier Automata, but that’s my all-time favorite game so I’m bias.

It's story and English dub is a bit lacking everything else is great

So far, I really enjoy it. But I would give it an 8/10. It looks very good and plays well, I like the combat and the game has a nice atmosphere. Also I like those small riddles here and there. A very well made game.
But also, everything has been there already, it's not mind blowing.

@NEStalgia "Best in genre" should easily score a 10. What's the point of a scoring system where almost nothing hits the top?

I liked Elden Ring, and I agree it does some things better than BotW (the way you can just almost randomly stumble on giant dungeons and entire underground cities is really cool, and a testament to FS' skill at excellent, multi-layered level design), but what hurt it for me is that it's almost entirely just combat. Zelda hits a better balance with combat, puzzles, character interactions, and a gigantic plethora of environmental interactions. ER also has the FS problem of having, like, no noteworthy music aside from the title theme and maybe some combat music, which is ironic considering people like to roast BotW's vastly better OST.

Somewhere between the combat and level design of Elden Ring, the traversal, environmental interactions, and puzzles of BotW, and the music, side-quests, and storytelling of The Witcher 3 is your fabled perfect, 10/10 adventure RPG, I'd say. Alas, we just have to settle for merely excellent games that do some things better than others.

9, exploration, combat, level design, has all been great so far. The not great, Story and dialogue have been zone out time and the soundtrack was driving me a little nuts so it was turned down to 2.

I would probably give the game close to a 9, probably 8.5. The music is great, the graphics are very nice, and the story seems pretty solid. My only complaint would be some of the QTE and some of the maps being corridors. I give other games crap for having QTE and lazy map designs, I cannot give this game I am loving a pass. I really love the parry, dodge system and its pretty forgiving to boot once you get leveled up.

@Ralizah I'm off mixed mind on that part of me agrees with you. Part of me says it makes no sense scoring something a score that says it's perfect even if it's far from that but merely sucks less than the other sucky games in it's genre to date? Sets a low bar. Instead of aiming to be great the goal is simply to suck less. A 9, 9.5, 9.8 may be ok for best in genre. But a 10 declares a "virtually flawless".

See to me, the exploration of ER is it's selling point. It's veeeeery Zelda 1. I spent a lot of time doing anything but combat, avoiding enemies, scouting, looking for campfires (yeah, campfires ) it made me play the same style I played Zelda 1 all those years ago. It's the traditional souls dungeons that aren't for me. If those weren't there and it were only the exploration it would be a personal favorite I think. Botw is of course good in those areas, though as an nes/snes Zelda fan, "character interaction" in a Zelda game isn't a pillar to me.

Alas we do have to settle for those in between games. And also games like this one. It really is seriously over hyped. Then again bayo3 was.... Whatever that was.

Sad to say I still have not played Witcher 3! I started it thrice and end up distracted by something else every single darned time lol

@NEStalgia I'd argue that many times the best games are obviously flawed, because they go out of their way to be different and forge a path of their own. I value that far more than any game that's merely a harmonious symphony of its parts. Actually, a ton of pretty good Sony and Nintendo games tend to hit this level, where they're super polished and well-constructed, and it's difficult to find any obvious flaws in their construction. But they lack the inspirational fire that the very best games have, y'know? They don't have that magic quality that tells you you're playing something really special.

I liked how Roger Ebert had his 0 - 4 star review system, and then hosted a separate discussion of "Great Movies," which he usually decided on with years of foresight to guide him.

Oh, you really should set aside some time and give TW3 a proper go when you can. It's far from the perfect gem of a game some of its obnoxiously fanatical fans like to pretend it is, but, all the same, I struggle to think of another modern Western RPG with stronger character writing or more elegantly constructed side-quests.

9, definitely a 9. I’m really liking it.

@Ralizah I think equating different with flawed is a reflection of how poor a state the industry is in lol. I don't think something that's different necessarily has to be flawed, but I also think games, unlike movies, nearly always need a sequel and can never land a 10 on the first outing. The first game is like an indie rock band. Rough, technically imprecise, but people love them because of it. The sequel can iterate on the systems experimented with, learn lessons, and engineer better solutions. But most bands just sign a deal with Sony Music, let the studio EPs overproduce the album and it's homogenized streamlined trash for a buck

I think it's different than film. Film usually you strike gold or don't in one go, and a sequel just means corporate junk. Games, being an engineered system needs more than one iteration to hone a design to 10/10 standards.

Yeah, that takes me back. I was more of a Gene Siskel fan over Ebert but I miss those guys, and that whole era of film.

I know, I really someday have to get to Witcher 3... Before 4 comes out. I liked what I saw with that I did play but there's always something piquing my interest. And having just gotten into FFXIV, I may be.....a little busy..... Actually it's not the grind people remember, the xp boosts mean you just fly through arr now, which is depressing because I'm really enjoying it and want to spend more time with it.

@NEStalgia Yeah, dude. The Godfather Part II; The Empire Strikes Back; Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Toy Story 3; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Dark Knight; Wrath of Khan; Dawn of the Dead; etc. etc. All corporate junk.

I will concede that it is far more common for video game sequels to be roundly superior to the original games in large part due to the 'gamey' parts being refined and expanded on over time.

I don't think 'different' equals 'flawed.' I just think that it's more often the case that inventiveness comes at the expense of refinement. My point is more that it's rarely the most polished experiences that live on as revered, immortal classics. So I think it's coherent to say that 10s can also be flawed in obvious ways.

I mostly read Ebert's reviews. Despite a lot of obvious shortcomings of his (he's given a number of very good films very contentious reviews, and too often allowed his own personal biases to cloud his judgment), I always admired the sheer joy with which he seemed to discuss the medium. Passion is infectious.

I've heard FFXIV is excellent. But online games, man. And it has a subscription model as well, right? Ugh. Maybe they'll make an offline version one day for someone like me to enjoy.

@Ralizah My own personal scale whether it’s movies, games, music etc is that 9 or 4.5 is the highest I’ll go just based on technical merit. If it doesn’t resonate with me on a certain level then it’s not worth a 10. I can never exactly be objective so ultimately personal taste is final when it comes to me arbitrarily assigning a number. Flawed stuff can get 10s for me easily. Considering I’d say Elden Ring was a 10, and it improves on elements of Dark Souls 1 which I’d say is also a 10, my scale clearly is worthless. The moral of the story is… rating things a number is silly? I have no idea.

@nessisonett There's definitely an arbitrariness to any sort of ranking system, considering things excel in different ways. Like, I'd say, putting aside my own preferences, Portal 2, Dark Souls, Uncharted 4, Super Mario Odyssey, and Breath of the Wild could all reasonably be called 10s. But they're also wildly different games that are barely comparable in many respects.

It makes more sense if you think of scoring a game a 10 as signaling excellence instead of it being some sort of objective numerical representation of a game's ultimate value. In that respect, you could call both Dark Souls and Elden Ring 10s and still be able to maintain that one is a clear improvement on the other.

About half way in, and its a solid 8 so far.
If it botches the ending it will drop to a 7 from my point of view.

Just my opinion, but to list a few games -
I think its better than elden ring, and much better than jedi survivor (which were both overrated in my opinion).
Slightly worse than Lies of P, worse than SM2, and nowhere close to GOWR or Hogwarts Legacy which are my 2 favorite games this gen so far.
I would still say that so far its a very worthwhile purchase and technically very good indeed.

@Ralizah Honestly, with the way I’ve used RYM to rate music for years, my 5/5 collection is more comparable to Ebert’s ‘great movies’ collection than any sort of indicator that they’re better than the 4s and 4.5s. Maybe that’s the way forward for game criticism, certain games belong in a distinct tier of excellence so that we don’t have to compare Half-Life 2 and Balatro, we can just agree that they’re really good for what they set out to do.

@nessisonett @Ralizah I think personal taste really can't come into it. It needs to evaluate the reviewers filter of what it is, who is for, and how it compares to other similar things. Regardless of if one likes it. I think most of the games I'd give a 10 to aren't the games I'd pick as personal favorites, but, and most that are I wouldn't give a 10 to. I think there's an objectivity that's necessary that's largely lacking in many reviews today.

I don't think a 10 necessarily should mean "excellence." goty can mean that. 10 as a hard rating really needs to represent a game with virtually no significant weaknesses. A numeric 10 isn't "this thing is so good" a 10 means "absolutely no deductions for any shortcomings were even possible.".

Not saying that's how most critics do it these days, it's barely shades of thumbs up or down.

My hones opinion, I like the game but also think it shows how much of a drought this console generation has been, that we thirst for almost anything with some action, at this point, and especially something that doesn't have that Western hemisphere 2024 filtering on it.

I'll get to it when the noise calms down. I'm glad a new IP from a new studio is doing well though.

@NEStalgia My problem with that is that there are plenty of legendary games that have obvious shortcomings, and also plenty of ultra-polished games that nevertheless wouldn't really deserve to be on 'best of all time' lists.

I guess the difference between us is that, for you, the best games are the least flawed, whereas, for me, the best games are the ones that reflect transcendently excellent qualities in spite of any flaws that may be present.

@nessisonett I'd argue that's the only way to reasonably judge games on the same assessment scale, since they're often going for wildly different approaches, depending on genre, so expectations will differ. Dark Souls and Tetris are just not going to have much comparable overlap, y'know? Or Portal and Uncharted 2. Or Super Metroid and Final Fantasy VII. Or Breath of the Wild and Metal Gear Solid 2. I don't really know how you'd compare them in any meaningful way.

All the same, I think you'd be very well-positioned to list all of those as 10s for the qualities that make them immortal in the public imagination.

Solid 9 for me, if you are very serious about the story than this is not the game that you are looking for. It is pure fun action RPG game with the combination of DMC, sekiro and nier automata vibe, the music is really cool. Combat is the best part of the game and the punishment of this game is very less, which has more variation of players to enjoy souls like combat experiance

@Nei the Korean dub is great!!
The English one didn't hit with me, and being a native French speaker I tried that too, but the Korean one works best with the overall tone of game I feel 🫶

I am not sure about this. Is it recommended to someone like me, who doesn't really like games like Final Fantasy, Nier, or anime style games, but love rpgs, action rpgs, souls games, Japanese and Korean games in general? Played the demo, liked the combat but couldn't decide yet .

@Tatarimokke It doesn't really have anything in common with FF but it does borrow a lot of elements from Nier (mostly story related). It has much more in common though with the things you said you enjoy like Souls elements in the combat and is obviously a Krpg so I'd say go for it if you enjoyed the demo.

The menu says I'm a little over halfway through the game now and I need to finish it to give it a definitive score (am also considering a NG+ run on a hard mode) but for the time being I'd place it at a higher 7.

When this game hits its groove, by which I mean the combat and character customization, it is extremely good *****. The enemy designs are creative and most of them are satisfying to hack apart, and you get a lot of options for fine tuning the way you want to go about fighting. And Eve gets like a thousand unlockable outfits which is always a big plus.

Everything else outside of that though can be a janky or lacking. The exploration has been overall nice, with plenty of secrets littered all over the area maps, but there's a lot of little annoyances that add up and bring it down.
I'm talking invisible walls everywhere and in places that make absolutely no sense, incredibly sensitive platforming where Eve will readily hurl herself off small objects to her death. ***** stop everything to climb the yellow paint ledges that have infected every AAA game. And if enemies have aggroed you, you can forget about interacting with anything within a two mile radius until their dead or give up the chase.
I also don't like how often Adam just gives you the answer to an environmental puzzle, sometimes before I even knew there was one. That always sucks.

The story is also nothing to write home about. None of the characters are particularly compelling and their dialogue is incredibly awkward (made worse by the English dub which I fortunately knew about before playing so I switched to Korean).
I'd obviously have more to say about this section but I haven't finished the game so for all I know the back half may have some god-tier writing (but I doubt it).
But I do enjoy how aloof Eve to all the NPCs, like she barely has any social skills and is just tolerating these freaks lol.

Finally, I find the game a bit too easy and wish hard mode were available from the start.
But as of now I'd say it's sitting pretty at 7 and I can see it ranking up to an 8 if it keeps up the momentum.
Oh, and a 7 on my ranking does NOT equate to mediocre for anyone wondering. 5 is mediocre, 7 is as good as good can get before becoming great, which is 8.

As a side, I just caught every fish in the game and it physically hurt doing it lol.

@Pixipantalon Thank you, will indeed try! I am also a native French speaker (my mother is French, my dad is Italian) and I thought the French dub was alright! Italian one has more striking Adam and Lilith!

@Cloud39472 Ok thanks for the detailed answer, I'm going to buy it then!

Eve is a perfect 10

I have been gaming for over 40 years and there is not a lot of games these days that's gets me excited but stellar blade was different and what made it better was once it was released it lived up to and excelled in what I was expecting.

We need more games like this. Its not many games that make you feel bad ass like this one.

@Tatarimokke Hope you enjoy it!

@Ralizah Yeah to me that transcendental game may be special or even a personal favorite, but flawed, and an admitted "not 10"

@Kingy that nano suit for all Fish sure is worth it tho 🤣🤣

@Uromastryx Oh yeah, unironically one of my favorites because of the white and blue (and all the... "backstory" lmao)

As an update to my last post: Finished the game last night and I haven't moved much on my thoughts on it. There are some really awesome bosses in the last couple of areas, but also all the same frustrations I mentioned before plus I noticed that enemies were just getting spongier, which is just a really boring way to increase difficulty.
As I predicted the story did not improve and in fact got worse lol, which isn't a huge deal as you can just skip the cutscenes (mostly) and dialogue for subsequent playthroughs - which is what I've been doing for the NG+ run.
The only difference I've noticed from hard mode is that enemies do more damage and bosses take much less damage, so not really any game-changing differences that improves the combat (though NG+ gives you some neat skill upgrades so that's a plus)
So all in all I'm sticking to that solid 7, I think just about anyone will enjoy this game, so give it a go if you haven't.