Completed my 1st playthrough with No Shields! First and foremost: While this game does have its over the top moments, Eve as a character, is amazing. She is a complete badass and one of my fave newest characters! Gameplay: This game is NOT a soulslike in my opinion. It's more like a mix between Sekiro's combat and a BIT of DMC, more around the lines of a DMC-lite. The combat is very nuanced and provides the player with a TON of utilities to get out of bad situations in fights as well as variety despite Eve only having access to one type of sword. Even command grab moves (fatal attack grabs), have a way out if you time it right, which in turn, lets you punish the bosses/enemies! Several bosses towards the end, will definitely challenge you to fully utilize everything in your kit to defeat them! Visuals: One of the more gorgeous games on the PS5! While Eve is very gorgeous, the level designs and color palettes in this game are used very well! Even the sand levels were appealing with the dilapidated buildings scattered about, making you wonder what happened to the world prior to the events of this game! OST: One of the most fun and soothing OSTs of recent memory! I heard that the OST is very Nier-like and now that I'm playing Nier Replicant, I can DEF hear those comparisons. Not ALL of the OST is like that but the variety in Stellar Blade's OST was really refreshing. The game is loaded with BANGERS! Narrative: Probably this game's weakest point, if I had to pinpoint any weak point. While some levels weren't as amazing as other levels, it was still varied and offered different experiences! Back to the story, I liked the story but can agree that it could've been given more time to shine. Eve's story, the story of the Naytibas and Xion being intertwined began interestingly enough but more on Mother Sphere, Tachy, and other characters would've given the story more weight, especially towards the end as Eve uncovers certain truths that would've given certain choices more weight to them as a result as well! The combat, character designs, and OST is where Stellar Blade shines the most! Overall, I would consider Stellar Blade super enjoyable and a blast to play! Eve has solidified as one of my fave recent gaming characters and I hope to see more of her, Tachy and other charcters in future games! The game should've gotten more love in 2024 and even more 2024 GOTY nominations as a result!

(Sponsored with a key) The game constantly crashed for me on my PC BUT I will judge it based on its story and how it further adds to the main game instead of my gripes with some performance issues. My PC does have issues to clarify, so the issue may well be due to that. Narrative: That being said, this expansion does a good job of following up the story of the main game by putting you in the shoes of a character searching through the remains of what went down, or rather, aftermath of the main campaign. Without spoiling, it was nice seeing the connection to the main game as well as seeing the before and after of the Rig before tragedy struck. Visuals: While I was running the game on low, you can TELL the game had very good visuals! Swimming around in the wreckage, you're able to see striking visuals of the sea claiming the wreckage and those who were unfortunate and unable to escape. The bodies and environment lets the player witness firsthand the aftermath of the tragedy and the player is constantly reminded of it as they navigate the ocean. Unrelated to visuals, but have to mention, the voice acting is good in this expansion, as it was in the main game! OST: The OST I thought, was more atmospheric and serviceable which is not a bad thing, as one of my favorite games ever, Metroid Dread, also had a serviceable and atmospheric OST. Gameplay: The gameplay is very similar to the main game but less monster encounters as it's more of a shorter experience, which isnt a bad thing, since this is a DLC. It's nice to be able to play through expansions here and there that won't take awhile to complete, especially if it answers lingering questions to the main game! In that sense, it does it's job well! If you really liked the main game, the expansion does a good job of piquing your curiosity as to the aftermath of the tragedy and the families affected of it by extent. I do wish that we had a few more encounters with the main monster of this expansion. While it was nice to see mention of certain characters from the main game, I wish we had a bit more of it! There was ONE frustrating jump early on but I was able to overcome it through trial and error. For fans of the base game, it's a good and relatively quick expansion. Thank you again, Guillotine, for the key!