Stellar Blade is at least partially open-world, but the question of its map size is a little more complicated. Stellar Blade‘s director and developers are clearly drawing on a long tradition of action RPGs like Nier: Automata. That means freely roamable open worlds, twisty-turny dungeons, and lots of secrets and side quests to be discovered in between. Stellar Blade borrows genre conventions, like a perfect parry system, combo-based combat, and a meter that unlocks special attacks.
But at the same time, it strives to establish its own identity. Some games do so by attempting to provide the biggest, prettiest open world possible, while others keep their maps small, but fill them with well-crafted landmarks and lots of activity. So, which camp does Stellar Blade fall into?
Stellar Blade‘s map size is similar to Nier: Automata‘s, combining open overworld areas with more linear dungeons. However, where Nier: Automata has just one large overworld and a series of smaller linear maps, Stellar Blade actually has two medium-sized open-world areas, making it roughly the size of Nier: Automata‘s overworld. Each of these links to a series of more linear areas, unlocked sequentially as the story progresses. Each also includes a variety of side quests and optional side activities that players can tackle at will.
Another, more recent map size comparison would be Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. In Fallen Order, players unlock a series of planets as the story progresses. Each planet is ostensibly open-world, but features at least one large, linear area that must be completed in order to advance the plot. Each of Stellar Blade‘s open-world areas is about the size of a large Fallen Order planet, featuring several linear maps that, again, must be explored to move the story forward. The only major difference is that Fallen Order lacks side quests in the traditional sense, while Stellar Blade includes plenty of them.
Stellar Blade is not a true open-world game, but exploration is still a major part of its gameplay loop. The distinction is that Stellar Blade‘s entire map is not available from the beginning; players unlock new areas as they proceed through the story, and can’t enter any new maps until they’ve completed the previous one. But it’s not all running down straight hallways. Each time players unlock an overworld maps, and each time they complete a pivotal quest, new side quests and activities will become available. This way, Stellar Blade balances a linear plot with opportunities for exploration.
As a matter of fact, players don’t even unlock the map at all until they reach a certain point in the game. The map only becomes available after players enter Xion, the last settlement remaining on Earth and the game’s first open-world map. Xion is only accessible after beating Xion, the fourth boss in the game; everything before it can be considered an introductory section. After they progress through the story significantly, players will also unlock the second open-world map, The Wastelands.
And even then, players won’t have access to the entire map the entire time. Stellar Blade‘s world map can only be opened when traveling through one of its open areas – in essence, Xion and The Wastelands. Otherwise, players will be on their own when navigating its more linear areas.
Traveling to new areas unlocks fast travel in Stellar Blade, making it easier for players to get from point A to point B. Fast travel becomes available after finding the first waypoint – a telephone booth – after which they can travel instantly back to any other telephone booth they’ve found. Fast travel is completely free, and can be used as often as the player needs it. It can’t be done from the overworld map, however; players will have to find a phone booth every time they want to fast travel.
Stellar Blade doesn’t have the biggest map ever seen in an action RPG, but it offers the best of both worlds. Blending open-world freedom with linear dungeon crawling isn’t exactly unheard of, but Stellar Blade finds a good balance between the two elements of its exploration. As a result, relatively small though it may be, Stellar Blade‘s map never feels limited.