Since its release last year on PS5, Stellar Blade has been one of the most-requested PlayStation exclusives to make its way to PC. That day is finally here, and ShiftUp's action game now looks and runs better than ever before, provided players have the hardware to meet its demands. On PC, Stellar Blade is still the great game it's always been, blending elements of both Soulslikes and more traditional character action games to arrive at a compelling mix of combat, exploration, and story. Notably, the PC port of Stellar Blade is also accompanied by the release of the game's Complete Edition, which includes the new crossover DLC with Goddess of Victory: Nikke and plenty of new unlockable cosmetics.
Considering the wild variance in quality among PlayStation PC ports, it's a relief to see Stellar Blade perform as well as it does, and it's worth noting that my experience was completely devoid of any bugs or other technical hiccups. Not only is Stellar Blade's PC version well-optimized for a wide range of hardware configurations, but it's also in an ideal technical state befitting the game's quality and fans' pleas for its eventual release on the platform. While we didn't get to test out the PC version's 4K support, playing Stellar Blade in 1440p yielded some positive performance that very rarely saw any dips except when in the larger, more open areas of the game.
Stellar Blade's PC Version Sets a High Bar for Future PlayStation Ports
Stellar Blade was already a visually impressive game on the PS5, and it's arguably only more so on PC. That visual fidelity is supported by the PC port's plethora of display and graphics settings, allowing players to tweak Stellar Blade to their hardware configuration for maximum performance. As expected, Stellar Blade's PC port features support for Nvidia's DLSS 4 frame generation and DLAA image enhancement (as well as AMD's FSR 3) and support for both 4K and ultrawide displays. In addition to these graphics options, Stellar Blade now includes an impressive variety of performance settings that see its PC version go well beyond what's offered on either a base PS5 or PS5 Pro.
On a base PS5, players have three options for running Stellar Blade — Resolution, Balanced, and Performance — that each vary in terms of their visual fidelity and targeted FPS. The PS5 Pro enhancements for Stellar Blade are similar, offering either a Pro Mode targeting 60 FPS or a Pro Max mode that pushes beyond 60 FPS with the help of the console's frame generation technology and variable refresh rates. On PC, Stellar Blade's display and performance settings include support for unlocked frame rates, pushing past 240 FPS if you happen to have a hardware configuration that can handle it.
Our playthrough of Stellar Blade on PC was performed on a system using the following configurations, which allowed us to test all the different performance settings at 1440p resolution:
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GPU |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB |
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CPU |
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X |
|
Motherboard |
ASUS ROG Strix B650E-F |
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Memory |
32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6400MHz |
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Display |
LG UltraGear 1440p monitor (144Hz) |
After initially using the 60 FPS setting and achieving flawless performance, regardless of what was happening on screen, I pushed past that cap to test out the other performance options available in the PC port and was able to get similarly stable results. At 1440p, Stellar Blade looks incredibly impressive when running at 144 FPS, which has the added bonus of making the game's combat feel more kinetic and responsive. On a base PS5, there were times when it was tricky to get Eve's parry timing down, but on PC, those issues were largely absent thanks to how fluid the gameplay both looked and felt.
Also of note is that, across roughly 30 hours of gameplay, Stellar Blade's PC port seemed to be completely free of any bugs. No hard crashes, no graphical glitches, not even any issues with audio syncing. That said, the larger, more open areas (specifically, the Wasteland) tended to cause frame rates to drop slightly, but nothing that impacted gameplay in any noticeable way. Throw in the added bonus of ShiftUp ensuring that players do not need to link a PSN account to play Stellar Blade on PC, and you have a port that's likely to tick all the boxes for anyone who's been hoping to play the game on PC and a lesson in how future PlayStation PC ports can and should be handled.
The Stellar Blade x Goddess of Victory: Nikke DLC Crossover is Both Fun and Worthwhile
Concurrent with the PC launch of Stellar Blade is the crossover with ShiftUp's Goddess of Victory: Nikke. This newest DLC introduces Scarlet and her dog Volt as quest-giving NPCs and shopkeepers to unlock a wide variety of DLC-exclusive cosmetics after completing their different missions scattered across the Wasteland biome and beyond. The missions themselves are a highlight of the DLC, as they introduce a new third-person cover-shooting mini-game that's arguably as much of a highlight as the core gameplay of Stellar Blade. There are 6 of these missions in total, and each of them unlocks new cosmetics to purchase from Volt's shop as well as builds progress toward a culminating boss battle that caps off the DLC.
The Stellar Blade x Goddess of Victory: Nikke DLC launches at the same time as the PC port and is included in the Complete Edition of Stellar Blade. The content is accessible as soon as players make it to the Wasteland biome after visiting Xion for the first time.
The cosmetics are all well and good, and they include what are arguably some of the coolest unlockable outfits for Eve's wardrobe, but it's the shooting missions themselves that are the real draw. After navigating to a mission's location on the map, Eve will be transported to an arena filled with enemies. Using an assault rifle and bouncing between concrete pylons, players have to clear waves of enemies in a given time limit, popping in and out of cover to avoid enemy projectiles and building up a meter to use screen-clearing special attacks that have some absolutely outrageous animations to accompany them.
Players hoping to pick up Stellar Blade on PC are likely looking to experience its core Souls-adjacent action gameplay, but it's worth pointing out that the Goddess of Victory: Nikke crossover missions make a good case for picking up the Complete Edition at launch. Along with the latest DLC, players will also get access to all other DLC content, including the crossover cosmetics from NieR: Automata.
Stellar Blade on PC is Arguably the Best Way to Experience ShiftUp's Excellent Action Game
Upon its initial release, Stellar Blade received plenty of praise for its compelling combat while getting a few criticisms levied against it for its somewhat predictable and shallow story, and those same sentiments still ring true in the PC version. The core gameplay of Stellar Blade is the same as it's always been in its new PC port, but with the added bonus of some impressive visual and performance benchmarks that push past what the PS5 or PS5 Pro are capable of rendering.
For character action and Soulslike fans, Stellar Blade is absolutely worth picking up on PC, and it joins a growing roster of like-minded games while simultaneously standing out as one of the better entries in the genre. PC players have been waiting over a year for Stellar Blade to make its way to the platform, and ShiftUp has put in the work to make sure it arrives in the best possible state, delivering a port that lives up to the game's quality and sets a bar for how other developers should approach their PC ports of formerly console-exclusive titles.
Stellar Blade
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 81%
- Released
- April 26, 2024
- ESRB
- M for Mature
- Developer(s)
- Shift Up
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
WHERE TO PLAY
RECLAIM EARTH FOR HUMANKIND The future of humanity hangs in the balance in Stellar Blade, an all-new story-driven action adventure. Ravaged by strange, powerful creatures, Earth has been abandoned, and what is left of the decimated human race has fled to a Colony in outer space. After travelling from the Colony, 7th Airborne Squad member EVE arrives on the desolate remains of our planet with a clear-cut mission: to save humankind by reclaiming Earth from the Naytiba – the malevolent force that has devastated it. But as EVE tackles the Naytiba one-by-one, piecing together the mysteries of the past in the ruins of human civilization, she realizes that her mission is far from straightforward. In fact, almost nothing is as it seems…
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- Stellar Blade now looks and runs better than ever on PC
- No PSN account linking necessary to enjoy the PC port
- The Complete Edition's inclusion of the new Goddess of Victory: Nikke crossover DLC brings a fun new arcade-style game mode
- Players will need some substantially powerful hardware to get the most out of the PC port's visual and performance enhancements