Stellar Blade Deserves the Horizon Treatment

Highlights

• Stellar Blade impresses with fast-paced combat, unique parry mechanics, and encourages aggressive gameplay like Sekiro.
• Its eye-catching visuals rival Horizon series, boasting detailed environments & controversial character models.
• Stellar Blade deserves Horizon’s PC port treatment to enhance graphics further and reach its full potential.

Despite some initial preconceptions, Shift Up’s Stellar Blade has proven that it is more than meets the eye. At the height of its praise has been its fast-paced, action-packed combat, which, although its focus on parry mechanics conjures justifiable comparisons to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, manages to set itself apart by encouraging players to play more aggressively than they might have in Sekiro. While Stellar Blade‘s combat is thoroughly gratifying, its eye-catching visuals are among its best features. Boasting striking, albeit controversial, character models and often detailed environments, it is undeniably one of the best-looking games in recent memory. With such stunning visuals, Stellar Blade now deserves to be next in line to receive the same treatment Guerrilla Games’ Horizon series has received over the last four years.

When it comes to breathtaking graphics, it’s nearly impossible not to bring Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West to mind. Both games have stretched the PS4 and PS5 consoles to their limits in their beautifully saturated environments and realistic character models, and Horizon 3 is likely already on track to supersede them both. Guerrilla Games hasn’t stopped there, however, as it has ported both games to the PC, thereby enhancing each game’s visuals even further by taking full advantage of the power that modern GPUs and processors can provide. Now, Stellar Blade has proven itself as the next visually remarkable game worthy of the PS5-to-PC port treatment, just like its spiritual ancestor, Horizon.

Stellar Blade Deserves Horizon’s PC Port Treatment

Horizon’s PC Ports Have Proven It Was Meant to Be Played on the PC

Even before Horizon Zero Dawn launched on the PS4 in 2017, it cemented its position as one of the most visually stunning games ever made. This was due in large part to its vibrant colors, realistic use of lighting, and intricately detailed environments. Then, when it was finally released, it proved it was every bit of that and more, as players got to experience firsthand the fire-haired warrior Aloy and the unique world she called home. Guerrilla Games then launched the Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition on PC in 2020, proving it could accomplish even more graphically than it could on the PS4.

Horizon Forbidden West was released just under two years later for the PS5 and somehow managed to look better than its predecessor’s PC port. Every bit of the PS5’s power was utilized to ensure Forbidden West stood out as a significant visual improvement over Zero Dawn. Guerrilla Games then established a tradition with the franchise when it ported Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition to PC in March 2024, once again showcasing the full potential of the series’ breathtaking graphics and all but confirming that both Zero Dawn and Forbidden West were meant to be played on the PC. It would do well for Shift Up to take note of Horizon‘s trends and approach Stellar Blade‘s future with the same mindset.

Stellar Blade Could Be Even Better on PC

Before the launch of Stellar Blade‘s demo, a significant emphasis was placed on its visuals, to the point that they became all anyone really talked about. Much of the discourse centered around its controversial character models, but the focus was on its visuals nonetheless. As it turns out, Stellar Blade‘s graphical excellence goes beyond the character models themselves and gives more than enough reason why it should eventually be ported to the PC.

Stellar Blade looks great and performs really well on the PS5, even with its Resolution Mode turned on. However, there is little doubt it could excel even more on PC, with more capacity for detail and potentially much higher frame rates. It’s currently unclear whether Shift Up plans to eventually port Stellar Blade to PC, but there is little reason why it shouldn’t. Now that more and more PlayStation exclusives are being ported to PC, Stellar Blade simply needs to get in line.