Stellar Blade is the game I've enjoyed the most this year. It's a weird situation for me, it's my GOTY right now and don't see that changing at this point. However, purely on a number scale. Unicorn Overload is the game I'd rate the highest this year. For me Stellar Blade is an 8.5 and Unicorn Overload is a 9. I rarely ever platinum games. Trophies aren't improtant to me, but I platinumed Stellar Blade. Which required me to finish the game three times. It's highly unusual, at this point, for me to put so much time into a playing an action game. Usually it's only RPGs that put this kind of time into. I've put more hours into Stellar Blade this year than Street Fighter 6 despite it being my current favorite fighting game.
It's crazy that a game with an alleged budget of 32 million dollars is so polished and well done. Similar to Black Myth Wukong, these mobile developers are putting traditional AAA studios to shame with their first big traditional game projects. The biggest negative for me on Stellar Blade was the narrative, but not so much after doing three complete playthroughs. Stellar Blade's story telling reminds me of the Metroid Prime series. You learn a lot from the information you find in the environment. At this point I've found everything and the narrative is lot more interesting to me now that I know the data. Learning how the world came to be the way it was or even the connection between why Eve and her sword make so unique amonst the other "Angels". It's interesting stuff. The universe and lore taps into my speculative nature.
Side note: Yes I've finished FFVII Rebirth and that game overstays it welcome IMO. As an RPG fan, typically, I don't want a game to end when I get near the end. With Rebirth the game started to drag so much that I ditched the side quests near the end of the game just to finish it. I don't do that in RPGs. Unicorn Overlord left me wanting more for example.
