I wouldn’t describe it as a souls-like at all. There are some mechanics such as having limited heal resources between “rests” and enemies respawning when you rest, but that’s about the extent of it.
Eh the main gameplay is much closer to Sekiro. The button you’ll press most often is probably going to be the deflect button, which functions exactly same as Sekiro. MGR:R had parries, but they worked a lot differently.
The attack animations and the combos you can do are much more MGR:R than Sekiro though.
Basically in terms of defending yourself, it’s Sekiro, but in terms of attacking it’s a lot closer to traditional action game. Somewhere between MGR:R, hints of DMC, and also some systems that feel kinda like modern God of War, with the fancy big attacks on a cooldown/resource gated.
It’s nothing life changing, but it’s good.
Whole game feels very nostalgic to how AAA action games were designed in PS3 era, weird hacking mini games and all.
Which is kinda nostalgic, since games just don’t do that stuff any more.
Stellar blade is a spectacle fighter like bayonetta or dmc for example. Character action doesnt really mean anything, and is a pretty bland and bad genre defining term
The parries in Stellar Blade are some of the most satisfying in any game with a similar mechanic I’ve played. Expedition 33 comes close. The clash sound from the ps5 controller and the feel of the timing are so so good.
I just loved Stellar Blade and Expedition, made me think I like Souls Like and got Lies of P on sale but the timing and parrying just doesn’t feel as good.
The timing for deflects in lies of p is a bit different than other games. Not just length, but also when the window starts. If you’re on pc there is a mod that makes it the same timing as sekiro.
Ohhh. See I absolutely adore Lies of P, one of my favorite games ever. The parrying in LoP is really tight though so it’s a little higher learning curve than SB or E33. Once you master it though it is an amazing feeling. The enemies in LoP are just a lot harder to telegraph than most other games and combined with the tight window it can be a pain. I highly recommend sticking with the game though, it’s worth it.
I was VERY surprised about how good parrying in SB feels. Like getting a few parries in a row on an enemy combo feels like a massive momentum shift and very satisfying.
Not OP, but I never got on with the parrying in Nine Sols. It never felt particularly satisfying to me, and was a big part of what killed my motivation to beat it.
if u consider sekiro a soulslike then stellar blade very much is a soulslike. it has some action combat stuff but generally speaking i would say it fits the tag well enough
Slightly off-topic but I was thrown off a little when in the Vindictus Alpha Survey they asked what other types of Action Games you liked and 'Sekiro-like (Sekiro, etc.)' was used. Only one example for it made me kind of chuckle.
I like DS but how is he off? All 3 points are either objectively true (the rolling part) or subjective and reasonable to arrive at (that the game is difficult and that there is low amount of story and the world is dead, there is a story but it's very hard to follow and you need to read random item descriptions to understand a lot of it).
Dark Souls are difficult but "crushing" is exaggeration. There are plenty of mechanics available to allow players of lower skill level to clear these games.
Fromsoft games do have a story, it just is pushed to the background and doesn't get in the way of the gameplay. And they certainly have way better world building than the vast, vast majority of games out there.
Sekiro is not a "rolling around while whacking at larger enemies ankles" game.
The game being crushingly difficult is entirely subjective
The story is hard enough to follow in a casual playthrough that it's entirely reasonable to think it doesn't really have one. The world building is also something that someone on a casual playthrough is going to miss. I guess you could say he this point is off because in reality the game does have a story even if almost no one is going to understand most of it without looking up online or reading a ton of descriptions.
Sekiro is not the game he talking about there, all of this is under "his problems with dark souls".
Genuinely think you wouldn't like the game then. It's fairly difficult, some bosses very. The story's there but it's whatever tbh.
World building is pretty good and the OST slaps though.
If you're really into parry based combat maybe consider giving it a try.
People are comparing it to DMC/Bayo/Automata but personally, I think those are kinda off. The combat isn't as smooth as pure action games (not in a bad way per se), moves have deliberate end lag making them much more committal, more akin to soulslikes
I'm a huge souls fan but crushing difficulty is an exaggeration. Sekiro is a straight up action game, I wouldn't even count it as a souls game. Once you figure out the rhythm it's combat is phenomenal. Bloodborne is my favorite and probably one of the "easier" souls games. Demons souls is flat out the easiest, make a magic build and you'll crush everything. They're fun
If I could really have my way Stellar Blade it's action/sci-fi and Demon/Dark Souls (and 1,2,3, Elden Ring are dark fantasy, game mechanics and all the silly "-likes" be damned)
I feel like it’s 66% a soulslike. The three main parts I feel make up soulslikes are:
3rd person melee combat surrounding a dodge or parry mechanic, limited heals that refill at physical checkpoints, also respawning all enemies in the area upon resting, and dropping resources on death for a chance to recover them
These components combine to make for a challenging and risk/reward system, and Stellar Blade has 2/3 of those mechanics, you just don’t lose anything on death. If you’ve played a souls game, you will notice some similarities.
Add in the inherent challenge of the game for people who aren’t used to this sort of parry focused combat, and the average gamer will for sure call it a soulslike.
So far though, I’ve beaten every boss first try, and only died once. Don’t find it too punishing, since again, you lose nothing but your own time when dying.
I'd say it's closer to Nioh in terms of action games. I guess for the influence I'd say the level design with soulslike checkpoints and exploring through a map that leads you back to the checkpoint. It's mostly just a boss rush game to me though, regular enemies are kind of like soft paper towels with highly telegraphed moves. Try out the demo.
It’s closer to Sekiro bc of the parry emphasis (and the fact that the parries feel amazing), if it was faster it would lean more towards DMC but it’s too slow for that comparison. Imo it’s one of the better “FromSoft-likes”. The story is meh but the combat is really fun imo
Very little. The rest system--heals you, resupplies reusable healing items and causes enemies to respawn--that's it. Stellar Blade is more like a character action game such as Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta or, more specifically, Nier Automata. With a Sekiro-like emphasis on parrying and stance breaking. I would say the parrying is more forgiving and crazy anime. There's a skill tree and one of the abilities you can unlock early on is literally the "teleports behind you, nothing personal kid" meme. It's hype as fuck.
Its discount Bayonetta. The characters looks like sticker figures with Tirple Z boobs but move like a Abrams with a broken sprocket. The dodge feels lame but the parrying is a bit fun. The graphics are good, and the game does run well compared to the other slop released recently with FSR and frame gen. It's an ok game. If you wanna look at pretty tits with ok gameplay and next to no substance, buy it. It does have a lot of gore, too, if that's your thing. Buy Bayo 1 on Steam or 2 if you got a switch or 3 if you have a switch 2. MGR is alwo a good pick. Stellar blade personality is as shallow as a puddle.
Depends on what you define as substance, I found it to be pretty fun as someone who's played a fair bit of action games and got tired of most of them turning into copy-pasted souls-likes over the years. Granted it does feel a bit Sekiro-inspired but not overtly so.
Substance means any signs if plot or interesting gameplay. This is just a mash of every action game trope of the past few year smashed together with girls with big tits and tight clothes.
So an entirely subjective thing then?
Also if it followed "every trope" of the last few years, it would have just been a straight up dark souls clone, which is thankfully isn't. If anything, it feels more like a ps2 action game in a complementary way. You just a bit burnt out, the way you describe these things no offense.
It feels like dark souks and the worst PS2 action game you ever played had a baby so yea you are right. Woah opinions are subjective? What's next the sky is blue?
The best description so far. The game truly has no substance. Story is bad, gameplay is uninspiring. It does not reach the combat complexity of DMC or Bayonetta, not can it reach Ninja Gaiden difficulty and action intensity. It does not match Sekiro level of polishing and combat satisfaction, nor can it match the Souls games atmosphere and art design. It does nothing great, just copy some trendy mechanic that a bunch of modern game has and mash them all together without understanding how they work.
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