Stellar Blade is an immensely impressive game that presents slick, sublimely animated combat, jaw-dropping environmental design, and one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in years. Despite some irksome omissions, occasionally abstract quest design and wonky platforming sections, it’ll undoubtedly be a game-of-the-year contender for many. If you have a PlayStation 5, then Stellar Blade is an essential play.

This PS5-exclusive action game comes courtesy of Shift Up, a relatively new Korean developer. The team was previously responsible for the hugely popular mobile game Goddess of Victory: Nikke and consists of staff that worked on MMO Blade & Soul. There’s some serious talent at the studio, then, and that really shows with its first AAA console endeavor. 

Parasite EVE

In Stellar Blade, you play as EVE, an ‘angel’ (read: elite combat specialist) fighting for an entity named Mother Sphere to reclaim a post-apocalyptic Earth from a hellish force known as the Naytiba. After a particularly strong ‘Alpha’ Naytiba kills EVE’s closest comrade, she’s rescued by Adam (yes, the religious overtones are quite apparent in Stellar Blade), a freedom fighter who guides her to the city of Xion.

The restoration of Xion - the last bastion of humanity - and the eradication of the monstrous Naytibas form the backbone of Stellar Blade’s narrative. There’s a good amount of lore and backstory throughout, but none of it really amounts to much until the final third of the game. Until then, EVE, alongside Adam and cheery engineer Lily, is largely tasked with gathering important resources for Xion in exchange for information on where they can find the especially threatening Alpha Naytiba variants.

It’s not quite accurate to say that nothing happens in the game’s earlier hours - some segments do hint at grim truths as to the nature of Stellar Blade’s near-hopeless world - but even after rolling credits, I felt I still had several questions unanswered when it came to the story.

While EVE is the star of the show, there are plenty of side characters that resonate with their own stories and sidequests. Kaya, for example, runs a junk shop in the hopes that it’ll help her track down her missing sister. There’s also an android-like singer that lacks a body whom EVE will help to rebuild over the course of a few sidequests.

To address the elephant in the room, much has been made of EVE and her provocative design. For those curious, she’s rarely - if ever - outright objectified by cutscenes, narrative beats, or camera angles. The game is more than comfortable in giving the character room to breathe, and typically avoids outright flaunting her. Yes, there’s a handful of revealing costumes you can unlock for her, but plenty are more conservative, ultimately offering a good variety of cosmetics.

She’s also incredibly cool both in and out of combat; always maintaining a level head and remaining deeply empathetic to those she’s charged to protect. I found that the game’s pre-launch marketing did something of a disservice to the kind of character EVE actually is, and you may be surprised by how well-rounded she becomes throughout the course of the narrative.

Style and substance

Stellar Blade is an action game first and foremost, so it’s unsurprising that EVE is kitted out with a wealth of attacks and abilities to make her fight against the Naytiba as effective - not to mention as stylish - as possible. For starters, light and strong attacks are bound to Square and Triangle respectively. 

One look at EVE’s moveset menu shows that she has access to a broad list of combos that employ a mix of both. And while it’s tempting to pick a couple of favorite combos, true mastery of Stellar Blade’s combat comes in learning which combos are best for any given situation. For example, light attack combos are good for dispatching smaller grunts, while more advanced strings are better for destroying shields or handling crowds effectively.

EVE also has access to Beta skills - and later Burst skills - which both have their own gauges. These are especially powerful attacks, but you’ll only gain access to them by routinely charging up each gauge, which is done by attacking as well as successfully parrying or Perfect Dodging enemy skills. 

That’s much easier said than done on the standard normal difficulty. The window of time you have to parry or dodge perfectly is fairly slim. Some stronger attacks also require perfect timing to counter, so you’re strongly encouraged to learn enemy move sets to in turn gain access to EVE’s best skills on the regular.

This comes to a head in the game’s many boss fights. While I’ve not found them as soul-crushingly difficult as those in Lies of P, Stellar Blade’s bosses - for the most part - are far from a cakewalk. Smart skill usage and expertly-timed evasive maneuvers are always required in these fights. Thankfully, dying in Stellar Blade is a minor inconvenience; you won’t lose any form of currency and, at worst, you’ll just have to deal with some respawned enemies to get back to where you left off.

Where Stellar Blade differs is in a handful of areas that break from a typical soulslike structure. There are a couple of open-exploration zones where EVE can tick off side quests and collect powerful upgrade materials (not to mention collectible cans that gradually allow her to carry more items). There’s also a handful of areas where EVE’s combat abilities are largely disabled, and she needs to rely on the projectiles offered by her companion drone.

There’s much variety in combat, level design, and exploration, then. And you’ll be able to add even more to EVE’s repertoire through skill points, which can unlock entirely new combat moves, dodging abilities, and Beta and Burst skills to make her even more formidable.

On top of all that, you're also getting a New Game Plus mode upon completion. In addition to one unlockable outfit, your entire progress (including skills, items, cosmetics and more) carries over into your second playthrough. That’s awesome news, as you'll get to keep EVE’s powerful arsenal for the earlier game, which in turn makes obtaining Stellar Blade’s multiple endings all the easier. 

May your memories live on… forever

An area where Stellar Blade rarely puts a foot wrong is in its presentation. It’s an utterly gorgeous game filled with brilliantly realized environments. Nier Automata’s inspiration rings very clearly here, especially with levels set in ruined, overgrown cities and sprawling deserts.

The game runs excellently across all three graphics modes too. The highest fidelity option, Resolution, locks the game to 30fps while offering supreme-quality visuals at 4K resolution. Performance, meanwhile, offers 60fps at 1440p resolution. The Balanced graphics option, then, targets 4K 60fps, but makes use of dynamic resolution to keep gameplay smooth and stable.

One of Stellar Blade’s more surprising aspects has to be its show-stopper of a soundtrack. Simply one of the best of this console generation, it’s an eclectic mix that leans heavily on vocal performances. Once again, the Nier vibes are strong, but Stellar Blade’s soundtrack manages to carve its own memorable identity. Boss fights are a particular highlight here, too, opting for fast-paced electronic scores or full-on heavy metal. Meanwhile, levels and larger zones dial things back and bring the vocals to the forefront, giving you an entrancing audio companion with which to explore Stellar Blade’s world.

Overall, Stellar Blade is essential if you're looking for a highly polished character action game with some light soulslike elements sprinkled throughout. Its gorgeous visuals, soundtrack, and unique atmosphere elevate the game to being perhaps the most unique PS5 exclusive since Returnal. 

Accessibility

Stellar Blade’s accessibility options, as we’ve come to expect of PlayStation-exclusive titles, are plentiful. If you’re not overly familiar with action games and feel you’ll struggle with the pace of combat, the Story difficulty offers an assist that slows time, allowing you to more easily react to incoming attacks with parries or dodges.

Beyond difficulty settings, you’re able to resize HUD elements, access three colorblind settings (protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia), and reduce motion blur and camera shake. Lastly, you can apply different levels of auto-aim to EVE’s ranged abilities and set it so that QTEs (quick time events) complete without the need for inputs.

Should I play Stellar Blade?

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How we tested Stellar Blade

I played Stellar Blade for just over 30 hours on PlayStation 5 for this review, using a DualSense Edge controller. This playtime included completing the main story and ticking off the vast majority of side quests and collectibles. 

I tested each of Stellar Blade’s graphical options (Resolution, Balanced, and Performance) during this time, eventually settling on the Balanced setting which provided a stable halfway house between visual fidelity and rock-solid performance. In fact, rarely did I notice any significant frame drops even during more hectic encounters while playing on my LG CX 4K OLED TV. Throughout my playtime, I paired Stellar Blade with the excellent JBL Quantum 910P gaming headset, which allowed the game’s exceptional soundtrack and audio design to really stand out. 

Perfectly countering any enemy’s attack in Rise of the Ronin is one of the most satisfying bits of video game combat I’ve experienced in months. The shimmer and crescendo of the violent impact of blade on blade, and the stagger of your enemy that follows; it’s all incredibly fulfilling, and immensely moreish.

Such combat thrills are at the center of this open-world action role-playing game (RPG) from Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja. The PlayStation 5 exclusive transports players to 19th-century Japan as it goes through the final years of the Edo period, Japan’s reopening to Western influences and the subsequent Boshin War. It’s a compelling choice of setting and makes for an intriguing and interesting backdrop for the adventure of the protagonist you play as: a Blade Twin, one of a pair of highly skilled assassins.

All in, Rise of the Ronin scratches the open-world itch. There’s a vast amount to do in each of the PS5 game’s regions, an interesting narrative is woven throughout, and it’s a Samurai-tastic adventure for those looking for something similar to Ghost of Tsushima or (maybe) the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Red. However, it is a little rough around the edges, gets repetitive in parts, and can’t seem to work out what kind of game it actually wants to be at points. 

Learning the ways

It’s the aforementioned combat that really shines throughout Ronin’s adventure. Countersparks are the star of the show. These moves are well-timed block-counters to enemy attacks and never get old. That’s quite the feat given their crucial nature to each and every fight with all enemy types.

Complementing the basic moves of attack, block, and dodge, countersparks are used to reduce enemies' Ki levels (stamina, in practical application), but they will reduce your own in the process. These are solid foundations for your combat moveset, but combat grows into a multi-faceted beast beyond this. 

There are different stances to master (giving me strong Ghost of Tsushima vibes); special Martial Skills that can unleash devastating attacks on baddies; a variety of close combat weapons to grow proficiency in; and ranged weaponry from excellent shurikens to powerful rifles, and you have a fulsome set of ways to inflict pain. This versatile mix leads to combat that rarely dulls, and it’s really enjoyable building a particular style and learning to nail every move.

As you level up your character, you’ll be able to develop all these further by investing in various elements of a robust skill tree that’s centered around four classic core elements of role-playing character-building: strength, dexterity, intelligence, and charm. I did find that once I’d slipped into a preferred playthrough, a lot of the skills just didn’t appeal or were relevant to my style and my effective combat, but the amount there is welcome, and you can respec at any time given you have a specific item.

The old informing the new

Team Ninja has kept some of its soulslike game elements from its Nioh series in Rise of the Ronin. Banners are quasi-bonfires, giving you save points and fast travel locations - that also respawn enemies and top up your health; and your character’s health items and ammo are limited consumables which can be refilled by touching a banner. It feels quite like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or Atlas Fallen in this respect, a kind of 'souls-lite'.

It’s a different kind of adventure to Nioh, crucially, in both its open-world offering, and in its action - the latter can be challenging, yes, but aside from boss fights’ spiking difficulty occasionally, this adventure is overall much more accessible (and can be altered across three difficulty levels).

More broadly on the action front, Rise of the Ronin seems to aspire to offer both hack-and-slash combat, as well as stealthy assassination-type sleuthing. While the former thrives for all the aforementioned reasons, I often found the stealth to never be as strong. It never felt like I could truly stealth my way through an entire outpost, with guards noticing your takedowns from a distance, or headshots with a bow not quite being effective enough. Plus, when formidable or stronger enemies can simply withstand an assassination attack, all hell can quickly break loose. As a result, it feels like Rise of the Ronin is trying to have its cake and eat it: wanting to offer a means to be stealthy, while always guiding events toward all-out action. At best, this makes it a little inconsistent, but at worst, the game’s identity is harder to see and appreciate with the two elements never truly wedding neatly. 

Guns, gliders, and grappling hooks 

Traversing the world of Rise of the Ronin is one of the highlights too. You get a glider and grappling hook early in the game, and both are crucial to getting around the city of Yokohama and all the regions of Rise of the Ronin. Both are exquisite and a huge amount of fun. As well as giving you quicker means of travel, both look cool and can be used to either get the drop on enemies or incorporate them into attacks.

The game’s setting of 19th-century Japan is undoubtedly an interesting one that many folks will be familiar with. Exploring the world and seeing Western influences encroach on the traditional Japanese way of life, while said traditions battle to stay relevant is intriguing. It’s like a modern-day Way of the Samurai, albeit much longer and with much less obtuseness.

Importantly, the setting and world are deployed in such a way that there’s just so much to do. There are guard outposts to clear in aid of returning order to a district, side quests to complete, cats to collect (yes, you read that right), landmarks to visit and photograph, shrines to pray at, and more loot and upgrade materials to pick up and find than you can poke a stick at. 

You’ll also meet a whole host of allies along the way. A further kind of mission type comes from this supporting cast in the form of Bond missions, which enable you to, well, strengthen your bond with them. These allies can join you in combat and offer in-battle bonuses, while they’ll also help you navigate the narrative and attempt to draw you one way or another along the anti- or pro-shogunate routes, providing interesting outlets and conversations through your journey.

It’s worth mentioning here that the game’s ‘bi-directional’ narrative and how it navigates, presents, and deploys the pro and anti-shogunate story is well done. Each branch can take you in different directions, and the choices you might are not just aesthetic: they make a genuine difference to you, your missions, and your allies - some characters will live and die as a result of the course you take.

The game’s open-world offering is filled with stuff to do and will scratch the itch for those looking for a world to checklist their way through. It’s borderline bloat-y but is often manageable, and its world and map retains an allure of exploration and completion.  

As a result, the relative linearity of the main story missions should be welcome. However, these main missions do become rather samey and repetitive: drop into an area, fight your way past regular enemies on your way to a mission marker, and fight a boss at the end. This structure rarely deviates, so doing a few of the main missions in a row to progress the story can become tiresome. 

Rough and ready

While the game’s world, on the whole, looks authentic and uses broad brush strokes of landscape type, color, and so on to bring the setting to life, it’s not all smooth sailing graphically.

Character models, animations, and combat moves look excellent. When you’re in tighter environments, everything looks terrific too. However, the environments of the open world take a hit and there is severe pop-in of elements and features that occurs not in the far distance, but very obviously in the fore- and mid-ground too, to the point that it is distracting. As the game’s combat almost demands you use the performance graphics setting due to its fast-paced, quick-reaction nature - it really is the best to play the game with - this exacerbates the pop-in even further than the other modes.

Graphical gripes aside, Rise of the Ronin is a robust open-world adventure game that will provide you with hours and hours of enjoyment, even if none of them really feel like anything new or fresh. It might not be the most unique, blistering, or bombastic - or crispest-looking - PS5 exclusive, but its best elements of a content-rich world and slick and crunchy combat have kept me in the game, mopping up outposts, completing bond missions, and collecting cats, after rolling the credits. 

Accessibility

Rise of the Ronin has a decent range of accessibility options to tinker with. In terms of controls, players can change the input methods for some actions, choose from a few controller layouts, and have options to increase or decrease the amount of control assists for some moves. Vibration intensity can be altered, as can camera controls and language, and there is a range of subtitle options from backgrounds, sound effect captions, and changing the size of the text. However, there are no colorblind options which is a shame.

Should I play Rise of the Ronin?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

How we tested Rise of the Ronin

I spent just over 25 hours with Rise of the Ronin for review, playing on a launch-model PS5 with the game installed on the console’s internal storage. I completed the main storyline - which totaled about 15 hours in my playthrough - and spent the rest of my time soaking up the story and exploring a variety of all the different parts of the world.

I tested all of the game’s graphical settings (performance, quality, and ray-tracing), and found that performance was the best for enjoying that game and its best parts (the combat). I played Rise of the Ronin on a Samsung Q6F 4K QLED TV as well as on the PlayStation Portal and experienced that game’s audio with a Samsung soundbar, a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset, and the PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds. The game’s audio was a joy through both soundbar and headset device. 

The Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds give a fantastic first impression. The eye-catching RGB-on-black aesthetic of both the earbuds and the charging case lend them a premium feel. That goes for overall audio quality, too, where there’s an impressive level of detail that you won’t often find even among the best gaming earbuds. As such, we can highly recommend them as a strong alternative to the likes of the Sony Inzone Buds or the Razer Hammerhead Hyperspeed.

That said, there are some missteps in terms of both design and performance. Despite coming with rubber tips of varying sizes, there’s a lack of comfort that makes the Speednova buds not best suited for longer sessions of play. They’re also not particularly great for multiplayer, with middling directional audio and some rather tinny voice quality. These could admittedly be dealbreakers when considering the earbuds cost $199.99 (and they’re yet to launch in territories beyond the US).

However, if you typically stick to single-player games or just want a rich music-listening experience, you’ll find that the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds seriously excel in these areas.

Design and features

The Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds come packaged in a smart little box that offers all the essentials. You’ve of course got the earbuds housed in their charging case, alongside three different pairs of tips of varying sizes, a USB 2.4GHz dongle, and a USB-C cable for charging.

The charging case itself might just be my favorite among the more premium earbud offerings. The outer shell only bears the ROG logo and a light strip to indicate charging. Opening it up reveals another ROG logo, this time illuminated by some lovely RGB lighting. The buds themselves also share this RGB logo effect, and they, along with the case, are built from sturdy, high-quality plastic.

Unfortunately, the buds don’t feel particularly great in the ears after a long period of time. I tested each of the three tip sizes (small, medium, and large) over extended sessions and there wasn’t much of an improvement to overall comfort. Your mileage may vary here, of course, but I did have to take them out after one to two hours of use and swap back to my wireless gaming headset instead.

There’s quite a lot of touch-based functionality to the earbuds, too. A single tap of either bud will either play or pause audio - but doing this during a call will mute your microphone. Other functions include double-tapping to toggle active noise canceling (ANC) or a quadruple press to adjust volume. There’s a lot here, but it’s all thankfully very responsive.

Performance and battery life

Unfortunately, the buds’ level of comfort - or lack thereof - is a real shame, because the audio quality presented by the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds is exceptional. The high-quality soundscape is bolstered by the use of Dirac Opteo technology which provides enhanced sound that’s able to really hone in on those finer details. This allows for overall much richer, detailed audio seldom heard in other gaming earbuds.

This was especially clear in busy single-player games like Rise of the Ronin. Here, the buds brought the bustling, winding streets of Yokohama and its various districts to life by enhancing background NPC chatter and ambient sounds, all without drowning out the wider soundscape. The in-depth sound of Tetris Effect: Connected was another highlight here, and I was super impressed with just how well the earbuds were able to catch even the subtlest details of the game’s remarkably layered soundtrack. In short, the Speednova earbuds allowed for an impressively immersive experience.

However, it is worth noting that the heightened audio quality provided by Dirac Opteo is only available via 2.4GHz connection. Over Bluetooth, while audio is still serviceable, noticeably flatter overall. The trade-off here, then, as you might expect, is that Bluetooth connectivity is much easier on the Speednova’s battery life. According to Asus, you’ll get up to 46 hours from the charging case via Bluetooth 5.3 here, and that’s with active noise canceling and RGB effects switched off. 

You can expect this number to be roughly halved with these effects enabled, as per the description on the Speednova’s product page. And in my experience, I found this to be largely true if a bit on the generous side. On average, the earbuds themselves carry anywhere between 6-12 hours of charge based on the combinations of features enabled. Though, mostly opting for a 2.4GHz connection, I found a single charge to carry around 4-5 hours with RGB disabled and ANC switched on.

Unfortunately, the buds fall short of being absolutely perfect due to lackluster multiplayer performance. Directional audio isn’t the best here, and certainly not up to the level of some of the best PS5 headsets which are better able to hone in more accurately on footsteps and distant vehicles, for example. The built-in microphone is also lacking, rendering my voice with a pretty tinny register with an overall lower quality than some much cheaper buds on the market like the SteelSeries Tusq.

Should I buy the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds?

Despite some issues with comfort and call quality, the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds are among the most impressive when it comes to sheer audio quality, largely helped by the fantastic Dirac Opteo technology. If you’re after something for immersive single-player experiences or are something of an audiophile, these buds come highly recommended. 

Buy them if...

Don't buy them if...

How we tested the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds

I tested these earbuds for nearly two weeks across many of the best PS5 games, as well as titles on PC and Nintendo Switch. To put the earbuds through their paces, I largely elected to test them with all features enabled, including Dirac Opteo audio via 2.4GHz connection and active noise canceling.

The buds shone in single-player titles, and I found it very hard to pull myself away from titles like Rise of the Ronin, Dragon’s Dogma 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as a result. While I did find the battery life to be rather inconsistent based on the number of features enabled, I eventually chose to disable the RGB effect to squeeze a couple more hours of use out of them before needing to charge them up again.