Nothing dull about this port.

I gotta be honest with you; I thought for sure that Stellar Blade was going to be a dress-up game. Typically, when games focus so much on the number of sexy/goofy costumes you can unlock and try out, it’s because the other elements are lacking (or it’s a mobile game). That is most definitely not the case here.

The Stellar Blade Complete Edition has arrived on Switch 2 after its original 2024 release on PS5. I won’t spend time comparing versions because I’ve never seen the PS5 version. The one addition I do know we get on Switch 2, however, are the Bayonetta costumes available at the game’s onset. That makes perfect sense, as Bayonetta fans should really dig this game.

You play as EVE, a super soldier dropped into a mission on Earth after it’s been taken over by the Naytiba. EVE’s squad is almost immediately destroyed, but she’s rescued by a scavenger named Adam. Others of varying importance join her over the course of the game, but acquiring the aforementioned outfits ends up being more of a draw than meeting new characters. And this isn’t just my opinion; this complete edition includes the option to turn off access to the provided DLC seasonal outfits until you’d otherwise get them over the natural course of the game. The developers at Shift Up certainly know their audience.

Costume leering isn’t going to carry a game, though, and it doesn’t have to with Stellar Blade Complete Edition. The action handles that, and does so in a way that’s immediately gratifying. You’ll start with a few combos that are fairly easy to pull off. And—as with Bayonetta or even your Musou game of choice—getting the combos wrong still results in something. The more you play, the better you get, and it’s not long before you’ve got full control of the system (a system that’s quite customizable and ever-expanding, by the way).

This is important because, as you’d certainly expect, dodging and parrying are instrumental. Learning the attack patterns of the bosses won’t do you any good if you’re not adept at avoiding or blocking those attacks.

Unfortunately, getting the timing down is tricky on the Switch 2. Input lag is an issue, and that’s never good in an action game. I found that using the Joy-Con instead of my Pro Controller helped a bit, but I stuck with the latter because it’s more comfortable to use and allows for GL and GR mapping. If the combat timing is too bothersome to work through, you can always lower the difficulty setting to compensate.

Whatever you rely on practice or settings adjustments to get through the game, it’s worth doing for multiple reasons. First, Stellar Blade’s Earth is quite fun to explore. The maps are linear and involve a lot of looping back (with respawning enemies, no less), but they give you plenty to discover. Invisible walls prevent you from accessing areas you shouldn’t reach, but there’s little visually to distinguish between that and what you should be able to access with some good parkour. As such, you may want to have a walkthrough handy to determine whether it’s worth multiple attempts to get past certain objects or drops.

Second, the game looks good and performs admirably on the Switch 2. Stellar Blade is neither the best looking nor the best performing port that’s been sent our way, but the framerate and rendering issues that do surface are simple to look past. Oddly, I had a bigger issue with the visuals when I was just running around; the environments are often washed out, making hidden items or accessible ledges hard to discover.

But the characters and enemies pop through nicely, so the game actually looks better during the combat sequences.

And third, speaking of those characters, I found myself more caught up in them and their story than I expected when starting the game. The narrative goes places I wasn’t expecting, and does so in a logical, intriguing way. In a rare twist for this kind of game, our hero and her companions are given more to do than just aura farm at every turn.

Let’s add a fourth. Stellar Blade Complete Edition is available physically with the game on the cartridge! That doesn’t affect my final score, but it certainly earns bonus points on a personal level, as well as respect for Shift Up.

So, Bayonetta fans, Soulslike fans, you’ll definitely want to try out Stellar Blade Complete Edition if you haven’t already. For $60, you’ll get about 25 hours of compelling adventure and engaging combat (double that if you’re a completionist), and you won’t have to sacrifice too much to do so on the Switch 2. Welcome to Nintendo, Shift Up. Pick an outfit from the equipment chest and stick around a while, won’t you?