Stellar Blade Is a Better Game Than NieR: Automata, Yoko Taro Reckons

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up quite clearly took a lot of inspiration from PS4 great NieR: Automata during the making of its soon-to-be-released PS5 exclusive, but in the case of Automata director Yoko Taro, he thinks that the student has already become the master. In an interview with IGN Japan (via Eurogamer), Taro says Stellar Blade “is a really amazing game. I’d say that it’s much better than NieR: Automata.”

The quote comes from a chat between the Japanese outlet, Yoko Taro, and Shift Up lead Hyung-Tae Kim. With the two directors constantly complimenting each other, Taro believes that Stellar Blade is the better game due to the “next-gen quality” of its visuals and the “cool male characters and cute female characters”. He continues: “Shops in RPGs often have a close-up shot of the shopkeeper, which I don’t like because I think it feels unnatural. Stellar Blade has a shot like that too, but the shopkeeper was so cute that I didn’t mind! Her cuteness felt more important than any design choices.”

Yoko Taro then goes on to explain how he knew comparisons would be drawn between the two titles after his first meeting with Hyung-Tae Kim, because while they play differently, “a delicate female character doing cool action is bound to draw comparisons. If Stellar Blade would have been the same game with a macho male character, I think people wouldn’t have pointed out the similarities.”

Kim was just as complimentary towards NieR: Automata during the interview, stating: “The more we talk about it, the more I feel like Stellar Blade can’t compete. I consider myself a visualist, not a storyteller. I’ve been creating visuals all my life, so I can’t quite match Yoko Taro when it comes to storytelling. I try to make up for this with gameplay.”

Should the claim from Yoko Taro come true, then Stellar Blade will garner an incredibly positive critical reception. NieR: Automata holds a Metacritic rating of 88 based on more than 100 reviews, so Shift Up will deliver one of the best titles of 2024 if outlets agree with Taro come release day. Do you think there’s a chance Stellar Blade really will be better than NieR: Automata? Let us know in the comments below.