Stellar Blade Review - Is it Good?

Justin's review of Stellar Blade! How does it stack up as Shift Up's first AAA game? Is it a Souls-like?
How did you like Stellar Blade? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!
Twitters:
Justin - / thundernut01
Montrell - / itrap4thehokage
Channel - / theplayerstake
Twitch - / itrap4thehokage
Podcast links - linktr.ee/theplayerstake

[@IsaacLoveland]

While I somewhat disagree with a few of your points, such as the linear horror-like areas being bad (i loved the jump scares, it reminded me of early dead-space in the best way an homage to a game from almost 20 years ago could conjure), or the open world being too filled with pratfalls (it reminded me of the annoyance i felt the first time i played bloodborne, and learning and memorizing the exact way that they wanted me to interact with their open world was, though frustrating, fully engaging and interesting as a means to learn a new developer's design language.), I have to say that I really appreciated just how thorough and thoughtful your analysis was. You mentioned just enough about your feelings on the secret ending to even further pique my interest in getting it after my "rejection" playthrough lol. I was surprised to see this was your first foray into gaming journalism since ~2020 and I look forward to your continued efforts!! Thanks algorithm, you actually helped me find a new channel with content I liked :p

[@theplayerstake]

Thanks for watching! I will say I preferred your ending as my "headcanon" - it just aligns with the game's narrative much more, imo.
We do have a weekly podcast covering games (been going for years) if you'd like to hear more!
linktr.ee/theplayerstake

[@Skye2993]

Yeah about the debacle that was the controversy, so basically besides the whole culture war going on with the game, in a nutshell Shift Up advertised the game as it won’t have any censorship and all that, now as for me personally I do agree that it doesn’t affect the overall experience with the game one way or the other and the game is still phenomenal but I do kinda understand when they advertised as one thing but wind up doing something else it does give an air of dishonesty.
I don’t even think people really care that much about the outfits cause I’m sure when it comes to PC mods can do their thing, it’s just that Shift Up said one thing but winded up doing the other even if it was a little teeny tiny thing because if it was “quote” “unquote” censorship I ask why did they even bother if the outfits are still fan-service I don’t get what they were trying to accomplish with that if the outfits are still revealing anyway, that doesn’t make sense to me not to mention the game is rated M, I’m sure adults are mature enough to know if they want to buy something or not I don’t think we need help on that regard.
But anyway they hyped it up as this uncensored game and then last minute added stuff in, so while I myself don’t think it’s a deal breaker either and that people do need to calm down in this nonsensical culture war, I do think intentions matter, and I also think that maybe it could’ve been the devs decision to modify the outfits but we’ll never truly know who did what, but maybe next time they shouldn’t advertise themselves so recklessly when their still working on the game and it’s not finalized yet.