My Stellar Blade review docks the normally fun and flashy action-RPG for a few janky and disruptive elements that hurt its flow state, so it's nice to see developer Shift Up actively and aggressively smoothing some of that stuff out with pretty rapid patches.
It turns out the day-one update which introduced a shockingly ambitious New Game+ mode also takes aim at the fundamental controls, tightening up some slight but noticeable delays and inconsistencies in Eve's movement.
"The Day One patch fixed the input time for basic attacks, as well as the timing of blocking and parrying to be more responsive," the official Stellar Blade account confirmed. "Also, the chromatic aberration and grain noise effects can now be toggled on/off."
Shift Up has previously said on the record that there is small, intentional delay between the player's input and Eve's actions, seemingly to give a sense of heft to the character's movements. But even with that artistic vision in mind, some of Eve's combos and special attacks, especially ones with more complex follow-up inputs, can feel unnaturally delayed or unresponsive.
It's very slight, nowhere near as bad as the platforming, and the sheer style of the combat system generally overcomes this. Still, it's good to see combat – easily the best part of the game – getting a slight tune-up. I won't complain about options for chromatic aberration and grain, either – anything that makes it easier to appreciate the game's often-incredible environments is good news.
Stellar Blade director jokes the action RPG "is the outcome of my creative dictatorship," but "everyone pretends to listen to what I say whilst creating what they want".
