While on its surface Stellar Blade might seem to follow a formula similar to Nier: Automata, its gameplay takes more cues from the Soulslike genre. Despite scaling back on some of the Soulslike genre's more frustrating elements, Stellar Blade still retains one annoying design choice that fans of the genre will likely be familiar with as a staple of FromSoftware games. However, through Stellar Blade's more forgiving approach to its Soulslike design, the game offers players a way to mitigate some of the difficulty surrounding the classic FromSoftware level design of hiding enemies in inconvenient locations.

There are several ways Stellar Blade makes the Soulslike genre more approachable, taking a more forgiving direction when it comes to classic elements of the genre. Unlike most true Soulslike games, Stellar Blade doesn't include a corpse run that forces players to find the location where they last died in order to retrieve lost resources, and the game's camp checkpoints include a variety of helpful services to make tackling enemies less intimidating. While some enemies are still placed in frustrating locations, the game goes out of its way to ease this frustration through the use of its scanner mechanic.

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Stellar Blade Follows FromSoftware’s Lead with Hiding Inconvenient Enemies

Soulslikes are already infamous for their difficulty, but FromSoftware Soulslikes like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring are particularly notorious for their enemy placement within the game worlds. These games frequently like to hide enemies around corners or above the player and have them attack when players are least expecting them. Not only can these enemies facilitate jump scares, but they are often placed in locations near ledges where unsuspecting players can end up falling to their doom, teaching them to be extremely cautious when exploring the world of the game.

Stellar Blade borrows this concept from FromSoftware and hides enemies off the beaten path for players to encounter while exploring levels for collectibles like Supply Boxes and other items. Players who are low on health might find themselves in a tricky situation if they are ambushed by one of these enemies when they are not expecting it, making it a good idea to approach exploration in Stellar Blade with caution. However, Stellar Blade gives players a tool to mitigate the danger surrounding these hidden enemies, helping them plan for a surprise encounter and alleviate some of the difficulty typically associated with this Soulslike design choice.

Stellar Blade Makes These Surprise Encounters More Approachable than Other Soulslikes

A huge improvement Stellar Blade makes compared to other Soulslikes is the inclusion of the scanner mechanic, which players can activate by pressing the DualSense's touchpad. This feature reveals hidden items and enemies nearby, allowing players to get a feel for the surrounding environment before planning their approach to a particular section or level. Utilizing this scanning feature can take some of the difficulty out of hidden enemy encounters, since players can anticipate where enemies will jump out from by viewing their location via the scanner, making some enemy placements less threatening than they would normally be.

While this feature helps players anticipate enemy attacks from around a corner, the downside is that players need to make sure they are scanning frequently so they can spot a hidden enemy before it spots them. As such, Stellar Blade offers a balance between traditional Soulslike difficulty and an optional feature to make the challenge of the game lie within the combat itself and not cheap enemy ambushes. By taking the game in this direction, the placement of enemies isn't rendered useless since players choosing not to use the scanner will receive an unexpected ambush, and those who use the scanner will still need to be aware of their surroundings so they can anticipate an attack.

Stellar Blade

Platform(s)

PS5

Released

April 26, 2024

Developer(s)

Shift Up

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Genre(s)

Action RPG