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IGN

But Stellar Blade puts a much bigger emphasis on defensive skills than I was expecting. Reading the timing of enemy attacks for well-timed parries and dodges is almost as important as it was in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Parrying multiple attacks to disrupt your enemy's balance allows you to perform a special attack called Retribution. With so many recent games inspired by Sekiro's gameplay structure, this alone doesn't come off as anything particularly original anymore, but Stellar Blade takes things one step further.

Push Square

We're impressed overall, though. Stellar Blade is not quite the game we were expecting – it's more difficult and deliberate than we'd anticipated based on the key art. But it's clear there's a dense combat system at play here, and it's backed up by a beautifully rendered world and some authentically anime cutscene direction. Most importantly, this feels like the type of game fans have been demanding from PlayStation for a while: original, single player-centric, and gameplay focused. Next month can't come quick enough.

Glitched

Stellar Blade's demo is only a taste of things to come, but we're very impressed so far. The combat is the biggest surprise, featuring less combo-heavy action and more strategy involved in how you approach certain enemies. Fans of Bayonetta or Devil May Cry will get their fill of stylish action, though it might also speak to players looking for something a bit deeper than that. Stellar Blade has our full attention and we can't wait to unravel the full game next month.

Digital Trends

In Stellar Blade, Adam leads Eve to the last surviving city on Earth, Xion. There, Eve builds relationships and helps to rebuild the city. However, the demo doesn't go there and there's not much indication as to where the story is going so far. Even so, I'm excited to see how Stellar Blade unfolds. I'm hoping it nails the story and characters, as excellent worldbuilding is what makes its contemporaries like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata so special.

Gamesradar

I have a tentatively good feeling about Stellar Blade. After spending a few hours with its upcoming PS5 demo, I'm reasonably sure that I'll enjoy this action RPG when it launches April 26. I'm also pretty sure it's not going to be an amazing game. Instead, I expect a solid-to-above-average game that appeals to me specifically. There's room for the full game to either drop the ball or totally wow me, but the demo indicates a clunky action RPG that's still more than enough fun to convince me to pummel the same boss for several hours just to feel out the combat system. I played the demo and now I want to play more, which is a positive sign.

Noisy Pixel & Genki have mentioned that there won't be a Photo Mode at launch:

Famitsu recently interviewed staff of the upcoming Shift-Up action game Stellar Blade, namely director Hyung-Tae Kim and technical director Dong-Gi Lee. Near the end of the interview, the director revealed that the game will not feature a photo mode at launch. However, the team is listening to players' requests and feedback, and will try to respond to them. So, if you'd like Stellar Blade to have a photo mode, showing the studio respectful support will get the message across.

Stellar Blade | New Details & Gameplay Summary Via Shinobi:

• Two difficulty settings: Normal and Story Mode
• Equally provides offensive and defensive skills, feels 'balanced and deep'
• Mostly linear but also full of wider, more open areas to explore
• Not just pure hack n' slash, emphasis on defense, dodge, parry, reading enemy attacks
• Large variety of bosses that can feel challenging
• Parrying multiple attacks allows Eve to carry out 'Retribution', a special attack
• Multiple dodge skills: 'Blink' and 'Riposte' to dodge specific types of attacks
• Beta Skills: Unique skills that accumulate that can cancel an enemy's attack if timed right
• Ranged weapons include a special gun Eve acquires
• Camps: Act sort of like bonfires in Souls games, can unlock shortcuts throughout levels but also areas for Eve to rest with different character cutscenes, flashbacks, etc
• There are simple puzzles and platforming, swimming underwater, finding chests, etc

On accessibility:

I'm pleasantly surprised to see a great suite of accessibility options here that make it feel like a first-party PlayStation title (it's not, but Sony is heavily promoting it like it is one). The list includes color-blind filters, as well as the option to automatically succeed at quick-time events.