Shift Up’s Stellar Blade is one of the biggest PS5-exclusive titles of this year, but it is not the only game where you can play as a female protagonist, embark on a dangerous mission, and face brutal bosses.
Some of the games listed here might only share one or two aspects with Stellar Blade, but some other ones will take you on a journey almost like that of Eve in Stellar Blade.
Returnal
Roguelike Shooter Set In Alien Planet
- Female protagonist
- Challenging combat
- Roguelike progression
In case you still feel hungry for more challenges after Stellar Blade, then you can hop on another PS5 console exclusive that was released a few years earlier.
Returnal takes the combat difficulty to another level by offering a roguelike experience. This time around, there is no old-school melee combat, as you will rely on your guns to shoot down ruthless bosses on an alien planet.
Featuring a female lead character, Returnal is a tough journey for those looking for a fresh challenge after beating all the scary creatures in Stellar Blade.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
First-Person Action Game With Futuristic Settings
- Female protagonist
- Semi-open-world
- First-person perspective
Mirror’s Edge depicts a futuristic world, but not as deep as Stellar Blade. The earth is still in place, but corporations have taken over the cities and control everything.
Similar to Stellar Blade, you are in a semi-open-world environment where you can complete side quests while pursuing the main story campaign.
The game is played in a first-person perspective with parkour-based movement and melee combat. As it sounds, it is quite different from Stellar Blade in this part, but the overall experience is pretty close.
Uncharted The Lost Legacy
A Trip To Hunt Treasure
- Female protagonists
- Casual gameplay
- Compelling story
Came out as a standalone expansion for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, The Lost Legacy soon turned into a massive success, despite replacing Nathan Drake with new female protagonists.
While The Lost Legacy features a similar gameplay to the Uncharted series at its core, it comes with a fresh story that is worth exploring if you love hunting treasures in the wilderness.
That being said, The Lost Legacy does not feature a long enough campaign, as you can almost beat it in less than 10 hours.
Lies Of P
Hardcore Souls-Like Experience
- Male protagonist
- Hardcore combat
In case you are interested in Stellar Blade’s skill-based combat and unique bosses, then you are better off playing a Souls-like. Elden Ring is definitely ticked on your list, but Lies Of P could still be on your backlog.
Embarking on a dark journey full of challenging enemies and boss fights, Lies Of P delivers everything you could expect from a well-executed Souls-like experience.
Find new weapons, try out different builds, die many times to learn the attacking patterns of the bosses, and make progress in a dark story set in a bleak city. Lies Of P will satisfy you with a compelling combat system if that’s what you enjoyed the most in Stellar Blade.
Scarlet Nexus
Compelling Action RPG With Anime-Style Visuals
- Male and female protagonists
- Features companions
Developed and published by Bandai Namco, Scarlet Nexus is an action RPG experience that falls in line with Stellar Blade’s overall gameplay features.
As a story-focused game with semi-open-world areas, Scarlet Nexus allows you to choose from two different protagonists. The game is mostly focused on melee combat, but you also have abilities letting you throw objects at your poor alien enemies.
You can upgrade your weapons and skills as you make progress, find new companions who will help you in combat, and learn new abilities from your companions by linking brains.
Scarlet Nexus also allows you to pick a difficulty level before starting your adventure, which could be a great option for players who value story rather than challenging combat.
Tomb Raider
A Blockbuster Adventure Game
- Female protagonist
- Multiple difficulty levels
For those looking for some exciting adventures with a lot of blockbuster moments, high-octane actions, and cliff hangars, Tomb Raider should be a hell of an experience.
The modern trilogy of Tomb Raider is surely worth a try if you are looking for an adventure game with a female protagonist who goes through a lot of deadly troubles.
Of course, Tomb Raider’s combat doesn’t have any similarities to that of Stellar Blade, but if you want the journey side to be bold rather the challenging combats, then Tomb Raider can make you quite happy!
Bayonetta
Excellently Executed Hack And Slash
- Female protagonists
- Unique and challenging boss fights
When we talk about hack and slash, Bayonetta is one of the names that comes to almost everybody’s mind no matter if you have previously played it or not.
Of course, the combat in the Bayonetta series is more fast-paced than Stellar Blade, but featuring a female protagonist, and a long journey with so many challenges ahead, Bayonetta is a close enough experience to what Stellar Blade offers.
While the first iteration of Bayonetta is available on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles as well as PC, the second and third installments remain exclusive to Nintendo devices.
Recore
Gorgeous Adventure With Puzzles And Action
- Female protagonist
- Open-world exploration
- Puzzle-solving platformer missions
There is no doubt that ReCore deserves much more attention than what it received at launch. Although the game still has a few technical hiccups, they are not big enough barriers to give up on a stellar journey in the deserts.
ReCore comes with an open-world environment and three different companions that help you solve traversal puzzles and defeat enemies. You can decide to explore the world for more resources to upgrade your weapons or your companions or go for the main campaign by completing different objectives.
The game does have a good pace in story-telling, and while it is not comparable to Stellar Blade in the combat system, it is a journey on a planet far from home, as Stellar Blade is.
Hellblade
An Intense And Dark Journey
- Female protagonist
- Dark setting
- Challenging combat
If you don’t mind playing games with quite dark and bleak stories and backgrounds, then Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a masterpiece you are missing out on.
Led by a female protagonist, Hellblade explores the adventure of a warrior who has embarked on a mission to free the soul of her lover from a curse, while she already suffers from psychosis.
Ninja Theory’s excellent job in recreating the mental disorder of Senua has turned this experience into quite an immersive journey, where you can feel the struggles of Senua when facing new challenges.
Hopefully, the sequel to Hellblade will launch pretty soon, which makes it even more worthwhile to play now.
Nier Automata
Flawless Adventure That Excells In Combat And Story
- Male and female protagonists
- Well-written narrative
- An abundance of unique bosses
Nier Automata is often considered the main source of inspiration for Stellar Blade, and that’s indeed true as both games share quite similar key factors.
Nier Automata is an adventure on a war-torn and abandoned earth, where you will face many different bosses and enemy species in a variety of regions.
Featuring a female protagonist, the combat system in Nier Automata is quite as difficult as that of Stellar Blade, where most weapons are built for melee combat, but you also have a small companion who can shoot at the enemies and get various upgrades.
