Stellar Blade PC — killer fashion on your screen

Making a leap from the console, Stellar Blade brings slick combat and a clear ‘did-she-just-wear-that-into-battle’ vibe, straight on to your PC

Do you hear a faint cheer in the distance? That is the sound of modders (a person who makes modifications especially to computer hardware or software) across the world rejoicing as Stellar Blade, and its glamorous protagonist Eve, finally arrive on PC.

While you, the player, get to save the world at a buttery 144Hz, the modding community is already working on cooking up some alternative wardrobe choices. If you have somehow missed the hype train, Stellar Blade is a high-octane action game that fuses the graceful combat of Bayonetta with the existential melancholy of Nier: Automata, all soaked in a hyper-stylised K-pop visual filter. It is a strange combination, but on the PC, does it really shine or just shimmer?

Earth is no longer ours. Taken over by the mysterious Naytibas, a grotesque, otherworldly race that appeared from nowhere, its surface lies in ruins, forcing what is left of humanity to retreat underground or flee to orbit. Enter Eve, an elite soldier from Airborne Squad 7, launched from space as her entire fleet is wiped out mid-drop. As the sole survivor, she is alone, outgunned, and possibly overdressed.

Armed with nothing but a sword, her mission is clear: reclaim the planet. What follows is a journey through crumbling cities and monster-infested wastelands, as Eve reconnects with the last scraps of humanity, uncovers the truth behind the Naytibas, and stylishly dismantles an army of terrifying bosses, all the while unlocking increasingly questionable battle outfits.

From the jump, it is clear Stellar Blade is cosplaying Nier: Automata, swapping android existentialism for Naytiba nightmares, but keeping the same moodboard — haunting ruins and stoic heroines. The result feels like a greatest hits album of action game tropes, stitched together with confidence and a whole lot of style. It works, mostly. The difference is, Nier had real emotional weight beneath its glossy exterior. It asked big questions, told a layered story and delivered unforgettable characters. 

Stellar Blade, on the other hand, is more of a surface-level tribute. The characters are drop-dead gorgeous, the cutscenes are cinematic and technically flawless, but with a missing emotional core, save for that excellent opening hook.

Eve is a good heroine, but with the costume angle, it seems to degrade the cast to mannequins dressed in aesthetic armour, strutting around in a post-apocalyptic catwalk. That said, not every game needs to make you cry into your controller. Like Bayonetta, Stellar Blade thrives on spectacle over substance and it absolutely delivers on that front. Just do not go in expecting a soul-searching quest. What you get instead is some of the slickest, sharpest combat of the year.