Stellar Blade is moving towards full release, and you can dive into the action-packed sci-fi adventure for yourself. You can read our full review for more details on how it turned out, or read our interview with the game’s creative director to learn how the game came together.
Developer ShiftUp does a good job of gradually introducing new core systems as you go through long adventures, but as we played before the public launch, our team discovered a number of things the game doesn’t tell you. which can lead you to a more pleasant journey. .
Turn on Auto Loot.
While the developer made many smart decisions in creating Stellar Blade, we’re a bit confused as to why the default choice for collecting dropped loot requires pressing and holding one of the shoulder buttons.
As soon as you start the game, pause and go to Settings > Gameplay and adjust the Auto Loot option to “On”, which is not the default. Eve will automatically start picking up items and currency without needing your input – as long as you get close enough to the items on the ground, they’ll go into your inventory.
Set the hair length.
In the same menu we pointed you to (Settings > Gameplay) you’ll find another option to adjust the length of the ponytail.
This is mainly a cosmetic choice based on how you like the main character to look, but we mention it here for functional reasons. Depending on your playstyle, extraneous visual “noise” onscreen can be annoying, especially in tense encounters.
Eve’s extremely long ponytail shows some nice physics, but if it’s preventing you from having a clear view of enemy actions, consider changing the ponytail length to “short”.
Ambush when you can
Even the standard stray Netiba enemies in Stellar Blade can lead to some tough and even game-ending battles. Take advantage of everything possible, including prioritizing the early opening of the Ambush ability (findable in the Attacks section of the skill tree).
Ambush lets you stab enemies behind if you can get close enough before they turn around to see you. This is usually an Instakill, so it’s a good choice to finish off the most powerful enemy in the group before facing the less dangerous ones.
Hurry to open.
Similar to the Ambush option above, it’s smart to unlock and use the Haste skill quickly and use it to open fights where ambushing isn’t an option. This skill lets you get up close with an enemy instantly, and you can land a few hits before they have a chance to fight back.
This is also an essential skill in longer fights, including bosses. After dodging or running out of the way of a dangerous attack, Rush lets you get back on the field immediately.
Guard first, then retreat.
More than many action games, guarding is an essential skill that you should practice from the start. An overly aggressive game without protection is a recipe for failure.
Your guard/shield will decrease with hits, but it’s a great way to face the early moments of a fight, when you’re still sensing an enemy. And while perfect parries and dodges are great, you may need a few strikes to recognize enemy attack patterns, and the best way to block those moments is to guard, without blocking attacks.
Improve the perfect dodge and parry
There is no surefire way to succeed in Stellar Blade other than perfect dodge and perfect parry. This is absolutely fundamental to the combat system, and success with these skills unlocks additional options and abilities.
Of course, the most important thing you can do here is observe and improve your time nailing these skills. Much of it is about memorizing the different color flashes and knowing which color corresponds to the need to dodge or parry. The training modules within the Skills menu can greatly assist in this practice. To find them, go to the Skill Tree Survival section, and tap the Square hovering over the Perfect Dodge or Perfect Parry ability. Seriously, there is no better skill to master.
But you can also hedge your bets. The game has additional skills in the skill tree and equipment that make it easy to nail those tight windows for perfect dodges and parries. If you’re having trouble consistently killing time, these are great skills and tools to focus on.
Scan, scan, scan
A tap of the central touchpad on your DualSense controller will send a pulse scan of your surroundings. It’s an easy thing to forget when you’re running around slashing enemies.
That would be a mistake. Making a point to scan frequently is a smart move. This reveals enemy locations that may be hidden. And it also features interactive objects and people, including dead bodies that can sometimes hold valuable upgrades, such as increased health.
It costs nothing to tap this scan, so make a habit of doing it in every new area you visit.
Continue with your side questions
Feel free to ignore this tip if you plan to try and mainline the golden path of Stellar Blade. But for the rest of the players, you may be wondering what to prioritize in your extracurricular activities.
Side quests provided by real people in the game world are almost always a good bet. They provide more and better experience and rewards instead of hanging around taking out monsters. The side quests provided by the characters are also more interesting than the less personal assignments you can pick up from bulletin boards.
And, while we don’t want to spoil anything, it’s safe to say that the final hours of the game play out differently depending on which ones you choose to complete. If you want to expand your time in the world of Stellar Blade, talking to and completing side quests associated with these characters is a great place to spend your time.
Pick up the phone!
It goes without saying that you should enter and use supply camps when you find them to rest and regain your health and supplies. But initially, you may not realize that you should try to activate all the payphone locations you encounter.
Phones enable a new fast travel destination. You want more of them.
Even if you don’t plan on doing a lot of fast travel initially, later missions sometimes send you back to explore areas you’ve already been to, and fast travel locations. A more comprehensive selection of takes you back to action and exploration. Fast completion.
Unlock beta and burst wisely.
As you play through Stellar Blade, you’ll gradually unlock access to beta and burst skills. Each skill tree adds new abilities that you can bring into battle by holding down L1 or R1 with one of the face buttons. These are usually high-powered attacks. You should integrate them into your combat flow.
But knowing that, it’s easy to cast too wide a net and weaken yourself by playing with too many different skills. This is especially true in the midgame, while there is still much to unlock.
In both the beta and burst skill trees, consider unlocking and completing upgrades for one (or maybe two) of them before moving on to the others. Remember, both Beta and Burst skills draw from their own meters, so if you use one ability, it will drain that meter, preventing you from deploying another. It’s rare that you’ll be able to spam multiple abilities that tap into the same meter. As such, it’s best to focus on individual skills that overcome weak points in your combat repertoire.
For example, Shield Breaker is the bottom skill (L1+X) on the beta skill tree, and as the name suggests, it does a great job of breaking through enemy shields. This is a great choice if you’re struggling with the early stages of boss fights when your enemy often has a high shield. And instead of diversifying into other skills, we recommend unlocking the Shield Breaker upgrade before focusing on other skills. Alternatively, Triplet (L1+Square) is a solid and consistent damage dealer and a great choice if you’re just trying to take down standard enemies quickly.
Take the time to look at the full set of beta and burst skills, and consider which individual abilities will be most helpful to your playstyle, then focus on them.
Follow the green dot.
As you start out in Stellar Blade, you may find a lot of people you need to talk to. If that’s your thing, go for it. But if you want to focus on individuals who actually have something to offer, look for a green dot next to an individual. These are original searchers or other meaningful conversations.
take a hint.
Occasionally, you will encounter panels that ask you to enter a code sequence of symbols. Usually, you need to find a different place that provides this code before entering it.
Don’t bother trying to write the symbols. Instead, when you return to the appropriate unlockable panel, tap the “hint” button to view the code. This is not cheating. It’s just showing you the code you’ve already found elsewhere in the game, that matches that particular panel. If the “hint” option is grayed out, you don’t have the code yet.
Experiment with Story Mode.
We always recommend that the best difficulty setting is the one that will have the most fun for you as a player.
With that said, Stellar Blade has a tough and rewarding combat system – if you enjoy the challenge of some tough combat, the default Normal difficulty is the way to go. It has some tough battles, but with patience, you will succeed.
With that said, there’s nothing to say you can’t experiment with the story mode, and doing so will get you hard on normal (or the ultimate hard mode, which unlocks after you beat the game). May be ready to win the fight.
In Story Mode, combat cues pop up and time slows down at critical moments in battle, allowing you to learn which buttons to press when that monstrous boss descends upon you.
If you’re determined to beat a boss on Normal, but are having a hard time, consider switching the difficulty to story mode to learn the ropes of combat. Then, before defeating the boss, switch back to normal mode, which will reset you to your most recent save point. You can then go into armed combat with a clear understanding of which buttons to press to react to each attack – but you still have to get the timing right to win.
Good luck in your adventures with Eve in the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Stellar Blade!