Stellar Blade mattered a lot to Shift Up. Before it came out, the studio was mostly known to its existing audience for online and more niche games. This one put them on the map, so it’s obviously a key IP for them, and I was curious to see it show up on Switch 2.
I remember watching an early concept trailer back when the platforms weren’t even confirmed. The combat gave me some Bayonetta vibes, and I wanted to see how it would turn out. It launched as a PS5 exclusive, then went to PC. Now Shift Up has handled the Switch 2 port itself, and honestly, it’s impressive.
The Switch 2 is a lot less powerful than a PS5 or a decent gaming PC, but the hybrid design works in its favour. You can play on the go, then carry on at the TV. Stellar Blade already ran on PC handhelds like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally, and I think the Switch 2 version holds up well against them, especially docked.
There are plenty of visual cuts. We’d already looked at how the demo performed, so I knew roughly what to expect. Even so, the final release impressed me more than I thought it would.
One interesting addition is frame generation. As far as I know, this is one of the first Switch 2 games to support it, after Dragon’s Dogma 2. If I remember right, the demo had it switched on with no way to turn it off. The full game lets you disable it, which is a good change.
With frame generation off, the game runs at 30 FPS. Turn it on and the displayed frame rate doubles to 60, so the action looks much smoother. The catch is that it doesn’t make the controls any more responsive. You can still feel the 30 FPS underneath.
That matters in a character action game, where dodging and parrying are such big parts of combat. It’s perfectly playable, but it doesn’t have the snappiness of a higher native frame rate on PS5 or PC. Given the hardware, though, I think Shift Up did an excellent job.
I played almost entirely docked, and the image quality was one of my biggest surprises. DLSS keeps things fairly sharp, and HDR support is a nice extra. The visuals fall behind the PS5 and PC, but the overall picture holds together remarkably well.
The biggest visual problem I noticed was the hair. Stellar Blade has some elaborate hairstyles with a lot of movement, and that fine detail doesn’t always survive the lower rendering resolution. You’ll see noticeable dithering around the hair, especially in cutscenes. The game has quite a few cinematics, so you’ll run into it often. Apart from that, I had few complaints about how it looks.
The story is one of the weaker parts, sadly. It’s a fairly simple sci-fi setup. Earth has been overrun by hostile creatures called Naytibas, and the surviving humans have retreated to an orbital colony run by an AI called Mother Sphere. Mother Sphere keeps sending squads back down to try to retake the planet.
You play as Eve, one of those soldiers, who ends up the only survivor of her squad after landing. A mysterious man rescues her, and she sets out to take down the Alpha Naytibas, picking up allies along the way. The premise is basic and much of the plot goes where you’d expect. There are some good twists, mostly in the second half, and multiple endings give you a reason to dig around. Still, the narrative isn’t why you’d play it.
What I do like is that exploring pays off. You can learn more about the world’s lore, and some optional cutscenes only turn up if you take the time to look around. There’s also a good range of unlockable costumes. I feel developers don’t give outfits enough attention these days, and Stellar Blade does a great job here. I don’t care much about costumes myself, but many of them look excellent.
Combat is where the game makes its strongest impression. It’s mainly a character action game, though you can feel a Soulslike influence in the mechanics. Eve can attack, block, dodge and parry, and well-timed defensive moves open up chances to counter. Good parries stagger enemies, and special skills give you extra options in a fight.
There’s no stamina bar, and I’m glad. I’ve never enjoyed stamina management in action games, so it’s a relief to fight without watching a meter drain.
There’s no traditional levelling system either. You earn skill points and spend them to unlock or upgrade abilities in a skill tree. You can also find equipment and craft passive bonuses. Rest points refill your healing supplies, and healing itself has its own button, much like in Soulslike games.
Level design is mostly linear, with more open areas appearing later on. Some of the straighter stretches even reminded me of Final Fantasy XIII. It didn’t bother me, since the game gives you reasons to wander off the main path.
The Switch 2 version also deserves credit for its feature support. Shift Up has added Joy-Con 2 mouse controls, gyro aiming, touchscreen support in handheld mode and HD Rumble. HDR and the UI are handled well too. It’s rare for a port to use this many platform-specific features, and you can tell the effort went in.
The Switch 2 release also doesn’t seem to cut content from the other platforms. The existing features are there, and the extra costumes are a bonus. Add the technical work needed to get the game running on weaker hardware, and it’s a very complete package.
I wouldn’t call Stellar Blade a must-play. The story could have been better, and the Switch 2 version comes with trade-offs in both visuals and responsiveness. But it’s still a very good character action game, and this is an excellent port.
There aren’t many comparable games on Switch 2 right now, and with no new Bayonetta in sight, the choice is limited. If you like this style of combat and haven’t played Stellar Blade yet, I’d recommend it. Shift Up put real work into this version, and I’d rank it among the better ports on Nintendo’s new console.
Game Information
- Game Title: Stellar Blade Complete Edition
- Price: $59.99
- Publisher: SHIFT UP
- Developer: SHIFT UP
- Platform: Switch 2
- Review Code: Provided by the publisher
