Stellar Blade Complete Edition Switch 2 Review – A Sharp Port for a Sharp Blade
It’s been over two years since Shift Up shook up the industry with Stellar Blade’s release. While they’ve been hard at work on the sequel, “Blood Rain,” Shift Up isn’t quite done with the first Stellar Blade, as not only did they announce that more collaboration skins were coming, but they would also be launching a whole new “Complete Edition” for the Nintendo Switch 2.
Given the scale of the original game, built on hardware far beefier than the Nintendo Switch 2, Shift Up certainly had quite a challenge ahead of them. While we’d call it the definitive way to play Stellar Blade, Shift Up has nonetheless impressed with a “stellar” port that proves Nintendo’s next-gen handheld can handle high-end action blockbusters.
Bringing the EVE-n Better Handheld Experience
Stellar Blade is easily one of my favorite games of 2024 for its action-packed sequences and high-octane hack-and-slash combat. The story, while entertaining, wasn’t quite as memorable as I hoped, but as Shift Up’s first title in the series, there’s room to improve on that in the upcoming sequel. But that’s beside the point, because I was playing for the combat, something I was really itching for as the market at the time was rather lacking in hack-and-slash experiences in the vein of titles like God of War and Devil May Cry.
Of course, 2026 is a very different year, with games like Onimusha and Phantom: Blade Zero leading the pack of action titles. But I like to think that Stellar Blade re-opened the door to this genre, considering many recent and upcoming releases. At the very least, it proved that there was an audience of gamers who wanted a more classic action-adventure that put combat at its core. That’s how I feel about Stellar Blade, and the incredibly fun action-adventure that game serves up is a wildly satisfying, high-speed slice of action that shines just as brightly on the Switch 2 as it did on day one.
Now, this is a Switch 2, and as impressive as some of the games have been on it so far this gen, it still has limitations as a hybrid console. For an action game like Stellar Blade, performance is no doubt the most important factor in the experience, and I believe Shift Up has found the right sweet spot to deliver just that on the Switch 2.
Mind, it’s a port, based on a blueprint designed with higher specs in mind, so it’s not perfect and has some noticeable drawbacks on the system. It’s a Switch 2, after all, and there are no secrets under the hood, so if you’re coming from the PS5 or PC and expecting this port to somehow be better visually or in performance, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. But that’s not to downplay this port by any means, as it is undoubtedly the best way to play Stellar Blade while on the go.
For resolution, the game aims for 720p in handheld and 1080p docked, which can make the overall image quality a bit blurry on a 4K set. Handheld, not so much, since pixel density is at play, so it looks better in that mode. Performance is where you’ll feel those drawbacks, as while Stellar Blade on the Switch 2 can achieve 60 FPS at times, it does so with frame-gen enabled. This was one of the things many complained about when the demo dropped, since it introduced latency. What I can say is that you can turn it off in the final game, though it’s still an uncapped framerate that generally hovers between 30-40 FPS. It’s not the most ideal way to play, and I hope Shift Up eventually adds a 30 FPS-locked quality mode, but I don’t think the experience is as bad as it sounds.
Frame-gen, actually, feels much better in the final build than it did in the demo. There’s still some latency, but it’s much more manageable, since I didn’t constantly feel like I had to press my buttons much earlier than I was supposed to. But after a few hours, I didn’t notice it much, and I really began appreciating how much smoother the game felt on handheld. I’ve played Stellar Blade on the Steam Deck; performance-wise, they are fairly comparable, but graphically? Yeah, the Switch 2 hands-down beats it.
Environments are far more detailed, with higher-resolution textures, more particles, and a sharper image quality. There’s still blurriness, as you would expect with a handheld port, but I was pleasantly surprised by just how good the visuals are, and how well this port runs on the Switch 2. There are some dips in some parts of the game that will be noticeable, but nothing really detrimental or “game-breaking.”
One area I found very distracting is the character’s hair. Long hair, especially as it shimmers. It’s a problem on all platforms, but the Switch 2 makes it very noticeable, as the anti-aliasing isn’t quite as sharp here on the beefier platforms. The issue isn’t bad on short-haired characters, but Eve has a ponytail that’s almost as long as her body, and seeing a shimmering mesh of it flailing around- yeah, you’re probably going to say it doesn’t look too good. But that’s a nitpick on my part.
Something I would like to point out is Shift Up’s HD rumble implementation. As far as I can tell, they share the same cues as those on PS5 and PC (via DualSense), but they seem to have a much stronger effect and, at times, produce that feedback in a slightly different way. For example, rain has a heavy patter that vibrates right through the grip of the handheld, giving the tactical environments a tangible, immersive weight that makes you feel every drop hitting EVE’s armor. The DualSense has this too, but it’s much lighter on feedback, and the same holds true for basically every other haptic effect. One of my favorite things about haptics is putting my ear to the controller and hearing the sound it makes, and I really love the sounds the Switch 2 makes from its haptic motors.
The Switch 2 continues to prove to be a much bigger powerhouse than expected, and although not quite the definitive experience, Stellar Blade on the Switch 2 is an exceptionally well-done port by Shift Up. It strikes a perfect balance between technical compromises and portable convenience, giving players a remarkably faithful way to experience EVE’s journey wherever they go.
Let’s just hope this is a sign of things to come, as the possibilities of the game’s sequel making it over to a Nintendo console have just gotten a whole lot better.
Pros
- Exceptional Port, making it the best way to play while on the go.
- Stylish combat that feels satisfying
- Fantastic HD Rumble
Cons
- Story not the most engaging, though does have its moments
- Added latency from frame-gen for those who want to play with the best frame rate.
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