Are We 100% Positive Stellar Blade Is not a Nier Recreation?

Stellar Blade has been an attention-grabbing expertise to date. Main as much as its impending launch, I’ve been on the fence about whether or not I used to be even . As is usually the case with video games that look the best way this one does, loads of the eye has been on the sport’s most important character, Eve, and the quantity of element that has gone into her… ahem… belongings. Nevertheless, PlayStation had the nice concept to drop a demo, so naturally I wasn’t going to show down the chance to do that extremely anticipated title threat free.

So there I used to be, studying combos and updating expertise proper till I beat the demos boss the place I felt a little bit of déjà vu. I loved my time within the demo, ripping aside bionic enemies as Eve utilizing my blade and some fight expertise I’d obtained. Stellar Blade stored me enthralled with its gorgeous visuals, stylized menus, tight fight, and a reasonably strong rating.

However the core of my enjoyment appeared to emanate from this inescapable familiarity I felt as I performed. As I explored the world, listening to mild chanting within the background and shocked by the spectacle of the sunshine results dancing throughout my display screen, I couldn’t assist however really feel I’d been right here earlier than. There was no approach this was my first time enjoying Stellar Blade. It needed to be inconceivable that I might have this sturdy a sensation for a recreation I barely paid any consideration to.

Then it hit me, type of like a type of un-dodgeable vital assaults which have been irritating me in Stellar Blade. I’d performed one thing extraordinarily just like this earlier than. It was known as Nier: Automata. And the Nier video Games are identified for being a bit screwy. Heck Yoko Taro, the director of the Nier video Games loves messing with followers and his viewers with ranges of thriller and intrigue. The video Games have a number of endings with typically odd necessities, and hidden references to the Drakengard sequence that began all of it. The propensity for weirdness from Yoko Taro and the similarities have me critically questioning.

It began with the music. As Stellar Blade opens, there’s this bombastic symphony accompanied by echoing voices with a contemporary beat mendacity beneath tying all of it collectively. The sounds assist to punctuate a battle in area as big, cocoon-like ships kickstart a raid. As pods stuffed with fighters (which we’ll get to in a second) rain down from the heavens, there are big beams of sunshine and explosions that slowly however certainly obliterate every little thing of their path. Percussions appear completely in sync with fireballs and tearing steel.

The music continues to crescendo as you contact down on terra firma. As soon as freed from your claustrophobic metal confines, Eve reveals herself to be a cybernetic femme fatale. Positive there was no white leotard and gothic black loli getup, but it surely’s very simple to consider 2B of Nier fame as soon as she begins transferring. There’s a deliberateness to Eve’s actions that performs effectively into the fast-paced fight which mixes frame-tight melee motion with some good ol’ vogue capturing.

What’s taking place on this planet on the opening of Stellar Blade? Effectively, for starters, it’s Earth. Humanity has been pushed out of their house by aliens and the one option to reclaim it’s with the assistance of androids. All of those Androids are terribly simple on the eyes. They’re proficient with blades, their skills are charged by their inside batteries, they’ll use vary, and also you even get a cool-looking little pod to accompany you in your journey.

Whereas the demo is temporary (you’ll be able to full your entire demo and even do the boss problem in underneath an hour) you do get a style of Stellar Blade’s story beats which proceed to ring with that Nier-esque familiarity. Mysterious warriors, that are offered as aliens, are the bane of your existence. Once they present up, you run. They transfer as you do, however they bleed. I wouldn’t be stunned if there’s some twist the place there aren’t any extra people, a minimum of not how we’d anticipate. That they’ve developed into these new entities that we see lording over the lesser beasts and preventing to maintain us from reclaiming our planet. Which all sounds very… effectively… Nier.

Now I do know there are loads of video Games which have similarities. It’s the character of artwork and the enterprise. Affect is in all places, and when you may have one thing as beloved and acknowledged as Nier, it’s troublesome to not draw similarities when a brand new motion recreation comes out. We noticed the same dialogue pop up with Lies of P final 12 months. A recreation that was such Souls-like that was so devoted to the core essence of video Games like Darkish Souls and Bloodborne, that many couldn’t consider it wasn’t made by From Software program themselves. However as you performed by means of that recreation, it was clear that it was one thing new irrespective of how clear its iNFLuences had been. I by no means at any level felt like I used to be enjoying something apart from Lies of P.

However Stellar Blade has tickled my mind in a approach a lot totally different to how Lies of P had us in awe of its adherence to what From Software program cemented as a brand new style. The place Neowiz Video Games and Round8 Studio created one thing that was wholly its personal factor in Lies of P however paid unfettered homage to the greats that created that individual taste of RPG, Shift Up’s Stellar Blade looks like there’s a trick happening proper earlier than our eyes.

Whereas it was solely a vertical slice, each little bit of Stellar Blade had me really feel as if I used to be enjoying a launch from the thoughts of Yoko Taro and PlatinumGames (although possibly not as clean as there was a little bit of stiffness, however that’s a dialogue for an additional time).

This might very effectively be a case of some strong flattery from a studio seeking to make its mark, however I’ve acquired my eye on this one. And you’ll name me paranoid, however I’m totally prepared for the tip credit to roll and Emil to walk up and choose up the items of no matter fantastically rendered battle that’s certainly being saved for this recreation’s climax.

When all is claimed and executed, I might find yourself being lifeless fallacious and what? That’s okay, as a result of I can’t be the one one who sees it, proper?