Stellar Blade

Stellar Blade is sorta like Dark Souls and Bayonetta combined, which is an interesting combo. It is stylish and overall has some really quality vibes. The setting and premise is very fun and has a lot of potential, however I can't help but to feel the story fumbles it. The narrative is pretty nonsense at some points. It's not actively bad, but it's meandering and ridiculous a lot of the time. Also, the game has some funky design elements. Constantly scanning for things is very annoying and neuters the exploration elements. The game flirts with open world design, but mostly railroads you into linear corridors. Most of all, the controls are kind of goofy. They feel floaty, which is not what you want from a crisp melee action game. At the end of the day, I did like it. I'm a masochist for all melee action RPGs, but I did wish they did more with it.