Stellar Blade, the first stateside non-gacha IP from Shift Up, is a well-reviewed game that’s best known for its challenging souls-like gameplay, outstanding graphics, killer soundtrack… and of course its suggestive character design. In our Stellar Blade review, Mitchell Saltzman wrote that “Stellar Blade stands out as a gorgeous and well-crafted action game with very impressive strengths and very clear weaknesses. Both its story and characters lack substance, and some of its RPG elements are poorly implemented, like dull sidequests that very often require you to retrace your steps through previous levels with very little done to make the return trip feel unique or rewarding. But its action picks up most of that slack thanks to the rock solid fundamentals of its Sekiro-inspired combat system, a deep well of hideous monstrosities to sharpen your sword against, and plenty of hidden goodies that do a great job of incentivizing exploration throughout.” IGN officially rated Stellar Blade a 7/10, although I personally loved this game and would have given it a higher score.

Stellar Blade is a technically demanding game and I run it in “Performance” mode to maintain 60fps. If you’re planning to pick up a PlayStation 5 Pro, which is set to be released on November 7, you may be able to get the best of both worlds and play in “enhanced” 4K mode and still get great framerates. According to this official PlayStation blog post, “With PS5 Pro, players will be able to enjoy Stellar Blade in 4K resolution at 50fps or more, with smoother gameplay, and you’ll notice an improvement in grain and detail in the game in PSSR upscale mode. Plus, the HFR (high framerate) option is supported, allowing you to enjoy a fluid gaming experience at 80 fps (120hz display support required).”

When Is Black Friday 2024?

We’re in the home stretch: Black Friday falls on November 29 this year. All month long, retailers have been rolling out sales, ramping up to massive discounts on Black Friday and through the weekend into Cyber Monday. There are already some fantastic deals available on PS5 consoles and controllers, video games for all platforms, AirPods Pro, and tons more.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.