Summary
Stellar Blade’s overwhelmingly positive player reviews propelled the action-adventure title close to the peak of the PlayStation 5’s user score rankings. Players have showeredStellar Bladewith praise for its over-the-top combat and eye-catching character designs, with thousands of reviews bolstering the game’s user score since its April 26 release. The success of developer Shift Up’s latest title cemented its status as one of the most celebrated original IPs to debut in recent years for PlayStation and Sony.
Active members of the gaming community will likely already know ofStellar Blade, a stylish third-person game set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi future. Even before the game’s release, the action-packedStellar Bladegameplay demo and cinematic trailers fostered a sizable fan base for the title, earning it a place at the top of the PlayStation Network’s pre-order rankings for the month of April 2024. The success of the title only continued to grow in the days following its launch, withearly reviews forStellar Bladeleaving none in doubt of its status as one of the biggest critical and financial successes of 2024 so far.
Now, after its successful debut,Stellar Bladehas become one of the biggest triumphs of Sony’s PlayStation 5 console. Asrecorded on Metacritic,StellarBladereceived universal acclaim with a 9.1 user score at the time of writing, placing it in the top ten of the overall rankings for the site’s PlayStation 5 user scores – among other titles such asResident Evil 4: Separate WaysandCyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.Notably, this placed several other massive 2024 releases underStellar Bladein regards to user scores, such asFinal Fantasy 7 RebirthandHelldivers 2.
Highest-Rated PS5 Games by User Score
Despite the game’s success,Stellar Bladeexperienced several bumps on the road on the way to release. The main protagonist’s character design was a particularly prevalent topic among the community, with some users criticizing the developers for adding severalrisque cosmetic items for Eve.
In contrast, other players have called for mass refunds because of allegedcensorship decisions from Shift Up. Some users accused the developers of bowing to public pressure and changing several outfits for Eve to cover up more skin. Shift Up later responded to the accusations and claimed the final versions of the outfits in the game were uncensored, with developers denying that the game was changed to mollify critics.
Uncensored or not, it’s undeniable thatStellar Bladeis nowa powerhouse title for the PlayStation 5, and that a brand new IP has the potential to open the door to new exciting settings and characters. With that said, it remains to be seen if Shift Up will take advantage of their golden goose and whether they can maintain the game’s favorable qualities without sacrificing its identity.
Stellar Blade
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RECLAIM EARTH FOR HUMANKIND The future of humanity hangs in the balance in Stellar Blade, an all-new story-driven action adventure. Ravaged by strange, powerful creatures, Earth has been abandoned, and what is left of the decimated human race has fled to a Colony in outer space. After travelling from the Colony, 7th Airborne Squad member EVE arrives on the desolate remains of our planet with a clear-cut mission: to save humankind by reclaiming Earth from the Naytiba – the malevolent force that has devastated it. But as EVE tackles the Naytiba one-by-one, piecing together the mysteries of the past in the ruins of human civilization, she realizes that her mission is far from straightforward. In fact, almost nothing is as it seems…
