Stellar Blade's PS5 User Score Keeps Getting Higher and Higher

Well deserved too. The game is awesome. Graphics, combat, music, level design is so good. I'm almost done with my first playthrough and I haven't encountered any bugs either. Even my gf loves watching me play it (this rarely happens).

It's a really good game but not that good.

I'm absolutely loving it, like a dream game for me. Infact I carved out a bit of time tonight to play it, I'm going in..

Congratulations to Shift Up for taking a big swing and having it pay off. Hopefully this leads to more amazing work from them, and gives Korean developers the confidence to do the same.

It's a fun enough game and all congratulations should be afforded to the devs, but just like when a game gets review bombed because the rabid hive mind has deemed it "woke" I feel this user score could do with a disclaimer that its user score may be misleading due to the discourse surrounding it.

Because frankly at this point it feels like they could have ended up shoving a pair of tits on the Gollum game and they would have achieved much the same response among those who had already decided that this was the second coming of gaming Christ

It's a fun game. Glad it's doing well.

@PapaGlitch those chuds have already turned on the game because of the “censoring” lol. Anyway I’m loving this game it’s just so good from the combat to level design,soundtrack etc. I’m even really enjoying the story the further I get especially the lore of it all which is great imo. The graphics are beautiful,the art design is outstanding and there’s just so much to explore,find and do that I never get bored

Honestly I'm glued to this game every chance I get. Exploring is my favorite part of the game even tho its main attraction is its combat. Finding chests and cans, doing side missions or solving puzzles all around the map has been so fun. And collecting new outfits and accessories too. It easily deserves at least a 9

Surprised it’s that high due to all the moaning about censorship. (I agree it shouldn’t happen) so you would expect many negative comments.

Or as always people are just mouthy on social media.

Eh, if it was multiplatform it would certainly be seen as the poor man's Nier Automata it is, as opposed to the second coming many treat it as.

This game deserves all the praise it gets. Its a sublime game. The gameplay, level design, artwork,score, challenge are all fantastic. My goty so far.
I was absolutely glued to it over the weekend. Shift up have made a very, very good game here. Im enjoying it as much as i did Nier.

@DennisReynolds Bruh, just before the censorship thing you, lot were mocking the so called "chuds" for just hyping this game. Stop switching.

Just be happy the game ended up good.

@rachetmarvel I mocked them for how obsessed they were and are over the T&A and Eve's looks. The game itself i was always interested in as i thought it looked good and once i played the demo i pre-ordered the game straight after. Check my comment history and you will see where i stood on the actual game before launch.

Game of the Year! Game of the Year! Game of the Year!

@PapaGlitch This is such a dumb statement,you as disingenuous as the anti-wokes.

You are literally trying to devalue Stella Blade user score under the notion of "Muh chuds online are postive bombing it,the horror".

The ven diagram of people who review bomb and people who treat this game like a political statement against wokeness is a circle so it totally makes sense that this game would have an inflated score.

@dark_knightmare2 They didn't turn on the game. Look through the user reviews. Half the 10s will say it's a masterpiece despite Sony's censorship. The chuds are definitely inflating the score.

@DennisReynolds You're not wrong there. The censorship does feel to minor and inconsequential for the amount of outcry it had.

That being said,I still respect them for standing on principle. They were promised an uncensored game,yet the promise wasn't kept,even though minor,I am glad censorship is still being fought against,even though it kinda feels silly with gooners 😅.

Hope to get it on my birthday!

@RBRTMNZ You're just proving my point.

You guys are acting just like the anti-wokes, when a game does well despite it being thrown in a culture war before it's release date.

"No its not that they game is good or enjoyable ,it's just those gooner chuds who are inflating the score."

@clvr nah, plenty of exclusives, like the previous Street Fighter or Forespoken were criticised to death. This one was embraced mostly because of the hot protagonist and the push against the evil "woke". Thankfully, it appears to be a good game, so all is good in my book.

Congrats, it is a good game that I’m enjoying.

I haven't played it yet, and plan too, but I'm just highly suspicious. It's clearly attracting certain inflated positive reviews from a certain crowd right now...

Well good.
I like it too!

Too early for me to evaluate, I sadly couldn't play at the weekend, and I started yesterday, but so far is an excellent game, goty candidate for sure

@Monochrome321 maybe for some but i can tell you now that the T&A dont do anything to take away the fact that this game is bloody darn good. The demo was pretty good but the full game just gets alot better. I disagree that the score is inflated. I think its well worthy of it.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
Stupid censorship that shouldn't happen, especially when crap like Saints Row is allowed to exist uncensored, and misleading marketing aside, when you look at it objectively, the game still has a lot of stuff that the 'incels' would say flies in the face of 'woke' (the whole discourse around this game is stupid), so I'm not surprised it's scoring well from users. All that said, other than the outstanding music and a strong combat system, which still isn't close to the level as the From Soft games it's clearly copying, I don't know as I'd say there's anything in this game that is truly great. A 9.2 is definitely a bit bloated and almost laughable in a year that has already seen Tekken 8, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. All vastly superior.

@Kidfunkadelic83 I agree the game is much better than I expected after playing the demo.

@rachetmarvel I'm not being disingenuous in the slightest; I am indeed devaluing the user score because of the positive reviewing bombing.

I mean come on lad have a little honesty yourself, it's a fun throwback; a solid 7 or 8 out of 10, but it's not the generational game this user score would suggest. Take out fun bags and it would be just another hack n slasher forgotten the day after release

@Gamer83 I agree about the censorship. It ridiculous a bit of cleavage is censored yet I can go and shoot someone in the face, dead in CoD.

@RBRTMNZ we can’t say all those 10’s are from the chuds. I mean yes I def agree a lot probably are but I’m not going to sell a great game short because of them

@rachetmarvel
The review score is definitely inflated, though. I'm as big a 'fanservice' guy as anybody but I also try to be objective. If this game is a 9.2 I can list a bunch more than should be in the 9.8 to 10 range but aren't because people are either complaining about horrendous DLC practice that don't effect gameplay or 'woke' or 'incel.' End of the day, user reviews should be taken as seriously as 'professional' reviews that aren't from PushSquare, Pure Xbox or NintendoLife, which is, not at all.

Wait, what? That's a surprise!
A "heterosexual" game with an oversexualized lady getting good user reviews (Let's show those SJW wokes out there!!1). Shock.

It really is deserved, even if I have had some technical hiccups.

I’m definitely very unlucky, (a quick google and no one else seems to be reporting issues), but I lost 10 hours of progress and my trophies got bugged.

I think it’s something to do with coloured blind mode (just a warning to anyone who might need that)… it randomly reverted to a 2 day old save right before I turned coloured blind mode on. And when I replayed parts of the game I’d lost, trophies like perfect dodge / executions count weren’t progressing.

Turned off coloured blind mode and it seems to have sorted itself out 🤞

Absolutely loving the game though, and even replaying those sections I found a few other collectibles I’d missed first time around, so not a complete waste… although a little scared to turn the game on today 😅

@PapaGlitch Gollum with tits would sell like hotcakes tbh

@PapaGlitch
I'm not so sure how I feel about this claim when there are no shortage of those types of games on offer that don't wind up making much of an impact, if any. I think this is just the case of giving gamers who actually spend money on video games exactly what they want...and yes, it seems that attractive characters are who they would prefer to play as.

Anyone gassed about "censorship" in this title, open the menu, go to the costume section and click your current costume.

It removes your current costume and thus, all of Eve's clothes.

@Dodoo And there she is in a bikini and a see-through suit its heavy censoring...

I'm really starting to like this game less because of the way some people talk about it.

Beautiful hero and evil monster are the backbone off our storytelling since over thousands of year, why would it change now? Sex sells and that is true for men, woman and everything in between!

@themightyant Its like these people forget about Hot Coffee or how sex scenes in God of War happened off screen, nudity was also super rare back then as well. Baldur's Gate 3 would have straight up been banned if it came out 20 years ago.

Glad to see it being so well received despite all the controversy about censorship. I've been really enjoying it and I'm looking forward to playing more of it.

@Flaming_Kaiser not sure if you’re being sarcastic but my point was censoring some cleavage is very trivial versus committing murder!

I'm having a really great time with it myself so far. Honestly can't think of an issue I have with it. I guess I wish I could fast travel to a specific way point in Xion when traveling from the actual levels in the game but that's at most a minor nitpick.

Shift Up did a great job here. They deserve the praise.

That's fine. It's a cool game. Great level design, exciting exploration, super tight combat. Also, lots of references to other games - from Fallout to Horizon Zero, which is fun. Best action game of 2024, if you ask me.

It's an easy 9 our of 10 from what I've played of it so far. Think critics were slightly harsh!

@Bydlak even references to Dead Space and Resident Evil I thought in the shooting section

Excellent game, is now fullfilling my (lite) souls itch post elden ring burnout.
Really love the music too, I think Sony owe Upshift a contract as this is now a massive hit and shows their ability as a great dev studio.
First PS5 game, really??!! Great work!!!

It's just nice to something new in the AAA space, after what feels like an eternity of sequels & remakes.

N.i.c.e. its cool that stellar blade is doing so well.well deserved.word up son

It's alleged that a few of these users actually played Stellar Blade as well!

@dark_knightmare2 I’ve read them. A significant number of them specifically mention censorship as their only issue.

@rachetmarvel I didn’t say that at all. I think it’s a good game. But I’ve also read through the user reviews and what I’m actually saying, that the score is inflated by the weirdos, is very clearly accurate. Go read the reviews, a significant number mention censorship as their only issue.

Great game. Good to see it resonate with players & critics. Too many good games. My PS5 collection has surpassed my Switch collection by quite a bit now.

@get2sammyb Disagree, @clvr is spot-on. Any game being a "Sony game" automatically bumps up the "Prestige" factor, same as Nintendo, and moreso with certain circles. You know that, you run a Sony fanzine. It also gets a very different kind of marketing (random indie drops don't send journos to meet their "favorite Korean cheerleader" for example), which in turn, lets face it, affects the coverage it gets on sites like this (by a landslide) which then affects the hivemind that is core gaming heavily. Multiplat would have changed the discourse, and the marketing coverage of it significantly. It would still have caught attention due to its....attributes, however. But, again, let's be honest, if it were both mutliplatform, AND featured a samurai dude protagonist instead of a half-naked girl with collectable "costumes", do you think you'd be writing article after article for weeks about it? Probably not, you'd have posted a review a few press articles and moved on to more Pro rumors and GoW TV show leaks by now. The controversy and heavy marketing cycle/Sony association is the only reason it's receiving the kind of hype it is. Manufactured success at its finest.

The game itself is fine, haggling over the 6/7/8 score or not, but it would have been just another forgotten indie without the marketing extravaganza and scandal controversy. The hype seems to sell to other easily hyped people any time that wave happens. For me, it becomes like Undertale, you start to hate the game not because of the game but because of the circle jerk that is the fandom, and because it's hard to separate the Soulsborne fandom that's already insufferable latching onto the latest hyped Soulsborne from the people praising the game as a political statement like the people that read Playboy for the articles, from the actual people that just like the game.

Yeah there's a couple reasons for that I imagine

@NEStalgia It's like you are discovering lukewarm water A media relying on publishers money and writing positive articles for said publisher? It's pretty much the definition of journalism since the invention of the mechanical press!

@NEStalgia

I was writing something similar until I read this and decided to respond to yours. I have been saying similar things since the beginning. Even though I believe this game deserves to exist, a certain segment of the fandom has ruined my desire to own the game. I mean, I like a bit of fanservice, or at least I'm not offended by it, but the misogyny on display with this part of the fandom is beyond even the normal amount.

I also find myself curiously thrilled at the latest controversy surrounding 2 of the costumes being redesigned. I am not a fan of censorship, but watching these gamer bros go crazy is a wonderful catharsis.

@BIG3 I can't agree more.

Even for someone like me who's not very good at action games, I've still having a blast playing the story mode.

@naruball still none of the two reasons you gave me are about the game itself, but about this freaking charade of a "culture war" going on around it.

@get2sammyb what @NEStalgia said, and it has the audacity of aping one of the greatest games ever from pretty much every point of view, down to hiring one of the same composers.
Can we not just agree that it's a good game with great combat but zero personality of its own?
If so, does it really warrant the scores?

Would have expected a review bombing by a certain crowd.
Happy to see that the public can appreciate a good game with a beautiful feminine protagonist (with the same morphology as marvel heroes of yore)

@PapaGlitch definitely not, this is far from the first game to exist with an attractive scantily clad protagonist and
not the first to be successful. Yes many people have issue with western authoritarian culture taking over their games but to say that's the reason this game is doing well is only an attempt to discredit it's success.

Remember review bombing can be 10s as well. It's more of an 8/10. I think the rating is inflated.

@PJ5 no it isn't the first, but the fact is that this game has come out during an incredibly divisive time when gamergate is rearing its ugly head again and nonsense like the sweet baby Inc debacle and the ever nebulous "war on woke" is in vogue. Fairly or not, this game has become a beacon for a frustrated minority who feel that gender, race and identity politics are the cause of their own failings in life.

Subsequently, they appear to have flocked straight to metacritic to voice their approval for what they perceive as the antithesis of current industry trends. Don't get me wrong, the game seems fun enough and I don't doubt that the devs are thoroughly good folk who worked hard to make the game they wanted to. I enjoyed the demo and will likely check out the full game at some point, but it is terribly naive to think that this suspiciously positive user reaction exists in a vacuum away from wider discourse around it.

@PJ5 and just to reiterate my point, just read the comment immediately above your own

@MikeOrator I echo your thoughts completely. I'm massively torn as I'm sure I'd enjoy the game, and I know the devs aren't to blame for the toxic discourse around it. However, I just don't feel comfortable supporting it when I know its success is going to give oxygen to a minority of gamers who feel that having realistic looking women in their games is a personal attack on them

terrible writing, voice acting, environmental design and side content prevent this game from being more than a true 7-8 score at best. anything beyond that is fanboy inflation. no different than the inflation you tend to see with various marvel properties.

Well deserved. I know theres more months in the year left but this is my GOTY so far. Lived up to all my expectations.

@Porco " terrible writing, voice acting, environmental design and side content "

nah, thats lower than an eight. even though here on pushsquare its like its very easy for a game to get an 8, and an 8 is the new 6 (not saying that this game is a 6)

I’m playing the game purely because it is enjoyable. I am married with children. I couldn’t care less about how sexy the protagonist looks like.
I also don’t have an issue with the voice acting. Some characters sounds strange but I can live with it. I just accept it as character traits.

The world though is interesting enough to be explored. The side quests are super simple but enjoyable and rewarding in a few ways. Exploration is also very rewarding. Story is interesting enough for me albeit very predictable. The only other game I enjoyed to this degree was Ghost of Tsushima. A game doesn’t have to be objectively great in all the separate components for a high user score. It only has to be simply enjoyable as a game.
I wish we had more games like stellar blade. Instead we get more and more unnecessarily bloated experiences instead of being enjoyable in simple ways.

Gamers’ choice is right. They don't care about society's agenda. This is why I believe in user scores over critic scores.

@dark_knightmare2 Why are you using the slang of people you're insulting?

@Porco agreed. I really like the gameplay which is keeping me hooked but the story is a real nothingburger and the VO is pretty awful

It's a great game so it got great review score from the community 😃

It's super weird that some of the reviewer score the game lower because the protagonist is too sexy though, although the body is scanned from real korean woman. But they don't have problem with full frontal nudity on titles like baldur gate 3, all of them are hypocrate lol.

@clvr yep, it's only scoring so highly because of people slobbering over the characters and because it's a sony exclusive.

@Gamer83 steam version in a couple years won't be censored that's for sure, Sony has a history of forcing devs to censor games just look at senran kagura, the consumer should choose in their system settings the content they want to see and consume not have it dictated by some corporate prude, this is how it's handled on steam complete user choice.

@PapaGlitch and what about the critic reviews, knocking points because of how main character looks. Your idea wouldn’t work

@RBRTMNZ Then I guess you also looked at the reviews that gave it zero's because they are complaining about censorship or the zero's from people who say the game is bad because it is sexualised.

People forget taste is subjective these days, sure BG3 is objectively the better game apparently, but to me it is still a load of crap. Given the choice I'd much rather play Stellar Blade then it and on my personal ratings scale I'd score it higher as well.

Thats good news.that means a sequel is definitely gonna be made.so its a good news for gamers.word up son

I've been having a blast with it so far. The ony downsides are some of the voice acting is pure anime cheese and that one song that plays on loop during missions kind of grates after a while.

Eves choice of clothing is also suspicious, not exactly hard wearing combat ready I mean facing off against a acid spitting, flesh slicing, befanged behemoth wearing just a swimsuit and a bunny tail doesn't seem like a recipe for success!

But the combat is satisfying, the visuals are top notch, and the overall gameplay loop is interesting enough to keep going. It's fun which is something that seems to be a rare commodity in games these days.

@NieR_Dark I had seen your previous post regarding that and just wanted to say damn, sorry that happened. I am glad it didn’t tarnish your opinion and thanks for letting others know!

It's natural for men to like chests and bottoms, nothing wrong with this. Haven't got round to it myself yet, only a bit of the demo. Looks a polished and a fun game, that's all that matters

@cuttlefishjones Swimsuits have high stats.

Theres a couple reasons for that

Cannot wait to play this thing but Dragons Dogma 2 has me nailed down!

Reviews - particularly digital foundrys - convinced me to buy this, and it is a good game.
Its not quite worth the inflated metacritic score tho imo.
The main characters 'design choice' does not sell this game to me, but I can see valid opinions on both sides of the argument here.

Pushsquares 8/10 is perfectly reasonable, as is the average critic metacritic.
It really is no GOWR or Spiderman 2. I also much preferred Hogwarts, and slightly preferred Lies of P. But It is a good game and i am enjoying it so far.

Like DF said - very polished, and 2 decent graphics mode choices for 60fps (though balanced needs VRR I do not have an issue with this modes framerate even though i am very framerate sensitive).

Released in a 'finished' state, unlike a number of games this year.

It really doesn't deserve to be considered one of the PS5's best games but I'm fairly sure that some of the scores given are as inflated as the protagonist's chest.

I also read somewhere today that people are demanding (and getting) refunds because 2 of the costumes aren't as skimpy as they would like. That's a great demonstration as to why the games industry is unlikely to ever shed its immature image.

@nomither6 you have a point. i was being generous. personally, i would score it a 7 based on what i have watched online. the moment to moment gameplay looks engaging enough but everything around it is just lacking one way or another.

@PapaGlitch
I really do think that this game has brought out the worst side of gaming.

On one hand you have the people completely outraged at the main character.
I still believe that if you are are claiming this as 'design choice', it would have been better to include a male/female choice with both of the same age/design/build type (its not like male and female fully voiced choices arent present in other games).
But it is an 18+ game. Though i do think their choices dont paint gamers / the industry in the best light.
Taking it to the extreme does full nudity have a place in 18+ gaming... I dont know, but what i do know is that genders should be treated equally and comparable characters are needed, also clear warnings on adverts/media/store pages.

Then on the other hand, you have those that see this game as a standard bearer for the small but vocal minority for which everything is "woke" (a phrase i personally hate seeing used by some like this because i see "woke" as having a positive connotatation), or "censored", or having an agenda. (NB to be clear im not negatively commenting on your use of the word woke.)
The developers were silly to shout about how uncensored the game was, only to then change outfits - but this was silly, not censorship imo.

Im playing at the moment, and ignored both sides of the extremes above, and its a good game - a polished 8/10 for me, but this could drop to a 7 if they dont nail the last half. Its good, and i certainly dont regret the purchase but its no GOWR / SM2 / hogwarts (my opinion).

Interesting to see the score go up but is similar to how my enjoyment of the game went up the more I played!

@Rich33 just to clarify, I also despise the word woke - it's a word that is inherently positive that has been co-opted by the far right. It's the latest in a long line of buzzwords that have been jumped on by those looking to push back on social progress (before woke we had SJW, PC... they all mean the same thing to these people - "someone is trying argue that people other than white men exists and that makes me angry")

I largely agree with your points. The only thing I would question is that the character design has caused outrage. Honestly I haven't seen any outrage about Eve's appearance, only people expecting there to be an outrage and then preemptively getting protective over it. Personally, I just find it slightly amusing, and find those who are so invested in it pretty pathetic. But at the same time, I certainly don't begrudge it - if a game with a scantily clad woman is what you need in your life then go for it. Just don't then use it as an validation for you to voice your awful opinions

Sex sells. It's not a surprise. Couple it with a fast and fluid combat and you got a winner.

@PapaGlitch
The clarification on woke wasnt needed - i knew what you were getting at - but you put it into words much better than i managed to re those using it to 'push back on social progress' and i completely agree with you.

I saw a few of opinions / comments about how they had gone too far etc - i think i also read this on a review (not pushsquare). But yes, the most vocal has been the over protection of it / using the game as a standard bearer, and i agree with your points.
The main character does nothing for me, and funnily enough i nearly missed out on a decent enough game, because as soon as i saw her my initial thoughts were "so your games not very good, and so you need to do this to try and sell it"!

I played yesterday like maybe 12 hours... It was years since I played so many hours to any game in one day.

Worth to say that I did not progress too much into the story, I'm loving the exploration and side content of the game. Sure there are some classic bland side quest, but there are really good ones too and overall it's great.

Isn't it usually considered review bombing when a specific group targets a game's score (no matter if in negative or positive direction)?

@__jamiie @__jamiie @__jamiie I've never heard of video games being associated with the word mature or even thought of as a mature pastime, quite the opposite

The game is fantastic. Story isn't much, but the gameplay is top notch! That's all we really need.

one of my favorite PS5 games so far. Taking my time to 100% my first play through.

@__jamiie why, it really doesn't matter what other people think.. just enjoy it yourself, like so many if us are doing right now

Well deserved, despite what Sony (California)has done with it, what we do have is fantastic! Just a solid game, no technical issues, and a helluva good time.. seems we haven't had such a great release since Xbox360 days.. it's very 'old school' , and it's new tech upgraded graphics to boot, make for an outstanding experience.. I'm loving everything about it, well worth the pre order, and especially my time.. Glory be to Stellar Blade!