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-Stellar blade is HEAVILY inspired by nier automata, (if you haven't played that or nier replicant, do yourself a favor and do so making sure you do ALL endings), with that being said, the story is a total trip. The twists are so unpredictable. It's a very philosophical experience. It did get quite emotional at some points in the story. Add In some fromsoft sekiro rhytmic parry mechanics and you got this beastly game that is so beautifully presented, no microtransactions, that was bug free in my whole 60 hour playthrough (100% completion, 3 endings, played on normal difficulty), and that ran smoother then the stick of butter I put on the hot pan. Considering this is the developers first console game, they literally killed it and put alot of AAA studios to shame. -Graphics truly looked next gen. Real time cutscenes made the game even more immersive (if you switched to one of the 70ish outfits before the cutscene, you'd wear it in the said cutscene for example). The ability particle effects were second to none. Every single world level with the ray tracing/ambient shadows looked so cinematic and were a total candy to my eyes. Every level had a melancholy song associated with it, the style that you'd hear in the nier games. (I found out the composer who did music for nier automata did music for this game too. NO WONDER haha.) It was great to say the least. I've genuinely had such a joy exploring every nook and cranny getting memory sticks, chests, outfits, and the 49 pop cans and it did not feel like a chore whatsoever. Hell, there's even fun puzzles (mostly for pop cans), and 25 fishes you can catch in a fishing minigame, which I found to be better if you compare it to nier games. -Characters were so darn believable and human like. From the skin imperfections to the body movements, the eyes, facial animations, real time cutscenes, I couldn't help but be dragged into this living world. Eve, Adam, Lily, Raven, Orcal, just to name a few, were all so memorable... -The bosses were a total blast to fight. Pulling off multiple parries in a row with those particle effects and the sound coming from the controller was so satisfying (even more satisfying then sekiro, and sekiro was the best in that regard imo). Every boss presented a challenge but if you got the timing of the parries and utilized the beta/burst skills for hp and shield shred/tachy to finish off, they shouldnt be as much of a roadblock. (You can also revive multiple times using an item bought at camps if youre really struggling). Some of those boss designs were so gritty (expecially beginning at area spire 4 till the end) and it was impossible to not screenshot them as to how unique and how much of a mind(insert f word here) they were. I also didn't mind dying a few times due to the banger soundtracks in said boss fights. -Combat was very very reminiscent of sekiro. Every fight had a rhythm to it. Every boss looked so elegant. The enemy variety was huge! (Unlike lies of p). Pulling off multiple parries as stated before felt more satisfying then sekiro itself. I'm also very appreciative that for every different ending you fought a different boss. Sekiro went that route with owl and ishin. Very cool!! Add some crazy indepth combos and abilities you'd find in devil may cry on top of that and you got this fun as hell in depth combat system that very few games execute this well. -All in all, this game is now joining my list of the greatest games I've played alongside: nier automata, nier replicant, hollow knight, rain world, disco elysium, hotline miami 1 & 2, bioshock 1 & 3 and returnal just to name a few. Do yourself a favor and support these developers and indulge yourself in this masterpiece of a game. (See attached screenshots)