I checked out the Stellar Blade demo.
Well basically it's a reminder of how Elden Ring ruined such action combat games. Wait for the parry... wait for it.. wait... messed it up.
I've ranted about this bullshit already but, you know, here it is again, like Lies of P and whatever, where the only way to git gud is to get your ass kicked, then memorize not just the move sets but the exact timing of each move, and meta-game the counters with these parries, so that it doesn't feel like fighting it feels like many little QTEs.
And I know this always gets compared to Sekiro but Sekiro is actually good and fun and feels awesome, while Elden Ring was so popular and not as cool to fight as and now everyone does this crap.
Plus, the art style and graphics are both hyper-detailed but also dark, at least in the demo part where you're in a ruined street, so some of it was hard to see. I didn't mess with the settings too much, after all it was just a short demo.
Also it strangely feels heavy- like you're playing this girl but she feels slow and muddy to move around in? The boss fight at the end has one move where he's zapping the ground and of course you have to dodge but dodging feels slow so you can't spam it but the many attacks invites a spam. I mean I could feel the animations happening instead of it being responsive or something. And I don't think you can cancel attacks unless I missed that.
However, landing combos and counters does feel good and the special moves that charge are fantastic. And the difficulty is mitigated by generous checkpoints, health potions, and there are difficulty settings.
Enemy designs are neat, reminds me a bit of Devil May Cry. Graphically really impressive- I mean maybe even too much graphics at the expensive of gameplay and accessibility.
And, I suppose I should say something about the sexbot design that chuds on the net are on about... *sigh*
Well, yes, it's absurd of course. Not just the soft-porn of it all, but it just doesn't seem to make any sense. So, I guess like Nier: Automata? But also the outfit is so silly- ok sure spandex pants can make sense for movement, but then the long hair and loose sleeves do not, but then also frilly collar and freaking necktie lol wut. At first I thought she was designed by a 14 yr old boy, but it's more like she was designed by 3 different 14 yr old boys.
So it seems a mish-mash of Bloodborne Pinocchio, Nier, Bayonetta May Cry, and Wo Long: Fallen Potential. Could be some good dumb fun but after a steep discount in the future.