Though the game wasn’t a first-party PlayStation Studios title, Shift Up’s Stellar Blade took the world by storm when it dropped last April. The game didn’t just become popular with its charming protagonist, who continued to steal hearts. It also boasted an exhilarating combat system, impeccable visuals, and much more. The visuals, in particular, had PC gamers clamoring for their turn to experience EVE’s stellar action-adventure experience.
I was lucky enough to review the game when it came out last year, and I loved my time with it. Now, thanks to a copy provided by Sony, I’m back again with a fresh take on the brand new Stellar Blade PC launch. After putting my PC and the game through the ringer, I mapped out some numbers. So keep on reading to know if your rig can handle it with our Stellar Blade PC performance review.
Stellar Blade: A Brief Overview
Before we move on to the performance, let me break down Stellar Blade’s intriguing story. EVE, a highly trained combatant, is deployed to a ruined Earth infested by monstrous creatures called Naytibas.
With her fellow soldiers fallen, EVE is tasked to reclaim the planet by wiping the monsters from the face of the Earth. Throughout her journey, she meets allies who assist her in various ways, but her mission soon spirals into something else entirely. If you want to know much more and learn about our take on it all, check out our Stellar Blade review before you move on below.
Stellar Blade PC Performance (Tested)
When Stellar Blade first released on PlayStation, the game was praised for its exceptional visual fidelity and for running flawlessly on the consoles. However, as any PC gamer will tell you, the landscapes change quite widely here. So before we begin, here’s our test bench for the Stellar Blade PC performance review:
Test Setup:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D @4.20 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti SUPER
RAM: 32 GB (2×16) DDR5 @6000MHz
SSD: Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
We put Stellar Blade’s PC edition to the test across all the major resolutions — 1080p (FHD), 1440p (2K QHD), and 2160p (4K UHD) in maxed out settings, i.e, Very High. We also ran the game natively and with DLSS and Frame Generation (2X) enabled. So, did Shift Up Studios manage to live up to the expectations? Here are the results of our assessment of the Stellar Blade PC port:
Stellar Blade PC: 1080p (FHD) Ultra Settings
With a quite powerful setup, running Stellar Blade on 1080p and very high settings was an ultra-smooth experience. In the native resolution, the FPS hit the 200 mark, averaging between 190 and 195. The GPU was running a little hot at 67 Celsius, and usage was around 95% all the time. CPU usage was around 30-33% at the same time.
| FPS | Native (DLAA) | DLSS (Quality) | DLSS (Quality) + Frame Generation ON |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 195 | 210 | 345 |
| Maximum | 201 | 230 | 368 |
| Minimum | 167 | 197 | 314 |
When I decided to crank the FPS up further, I enabled the DLSS and set it to quality mode. The FPS crossed 200 and averaged between 210 and 220 FPS. Furthermore, when I turned on frame generation, the FPS skyrocketed beyond 350 FPS. This time, I averaged between 345 and 360 FPS, whereas GPU temps dropped to 65 Celsius and GPU utilization was 90-92%. The CPU usage stayed the same as native, i.e., 32-33%.
Stellar Blade PC: 1440p (QHD) Ultra Settings
Moving on to my monitor’s native resolution, 2K, aka 1440p, I begin to notice the dip in FPS and improvement in visual fidelity. In the native 2K resolution, I averaged between 140 FPS, which is also an equally smooth experience without upscaling or frame gen.
With the game becoming GPU-bound at this resolution, GPU utilization jumped to 99%, and temperatures remained at 70 Celsius. Meanwhile, CPU usage decreased to around 24%.
| FPS | Native (DLAA) | DLSS (Quality) | DLSS (Quality) + Frame Generation ON |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 140 | 190 | 260 |
| Maximum | 148 | 200 | 290 |
| Minimum | 126 | 178 | 248 |
As the next step, I switched to the DLSS mode, and the FPS averaged between 190 and 195. Turning on FG further resulted in a whopping 260-265 FPS. During both these modes, the GPU remained at 70 Celsius, but the GPU usage slightly dipped to 97%. At the same time, the CPU utilization rose to 27-28%.
Stellar Blade PC: 2160p (UHD) Ultra Settings
Up next, switching over to 4K resolution gave us the best picture quality, but the FPS took a big hit as it dropped to the 65-70 range. The GPU temperatures rose to 73-74 Celsius, and utilization remained at 99%. As the game has become completely GPU-bound at the highest resolution, the CPU usage was reduced to 13-16%, as it should be.
| FPS | Native (DLAA) | DLSS (Quality) | DLSS (Quality) + Frame Generation ON |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 70 | 108 | 155 |
| Maximum | 73 | 112 | 166 |
| Minimum | 62 | 103 | 151 |
After playing the game with over 100 FPS, I couldn’t settle for a two-digit FPS mark. So I immediately enabled the DLSS and noticed the FPS averaging 105-110. Then, I turned on the Frame Generation to smooth further, which brought the FPS mark to an average of 155.
The GPU temperature slipped to 72 Celsius. However, GPU usage stayed the same at 99%. On the other hand, CPU utilization stayed between 20% and 23%.
Stellar Blade PC: Best Playable Settings
After testing across multiple resolutions in very high settings, I can conclude that playing in your native resolution with just Frame Generation enabled will be the best way to play Stellar Blade. Thanks to the increased FPS, the game’s adrenaline-rushing combat feels way better on PC.
| FPS | 1080p Native+ Frame Generation ON | 2K Native+ Frame Generation ON | 4K Native+ Frame Generation ON |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 290 | 200 | 106 |
| Maximum | 312 | 212 | 115 |
| Minimum | 284 | 167 | 102 |
Therefore, depending on your setup, you can also wisely use DLSS and Frame Gen to get a silky smooth experience. Moreover, during my time with the game, I didn’t encounter any visual artifacts or crashes due to upscaling.
Verdict: Worth Going on Another Journey with EVE on PC?
Stellar Blade is one of my favorite A-RPGs released last year. I had a blast with this game’s combat and have been waiting to experience it all over again on my PC. The wait was totally worth it as Shift Up Studios nailed the PC port with perfect optimization. There were no frustrating crashes or annoying bugs that hold you back from experiencing EVE obliterating the monstrous creatures.
While I was satisfied with the 60 FPS performance on my console last year, battling against the terrifying Naytibas with unlocked framerates, and experiencing the beauty of the game with higher resolution textures has won me over.
So, I have to say that playing Stellar Blade on PC is the best possible way to enjoy this game if you prefer extraordinary graphics quality and higher frame rates. Stellar Blade is a solid action-adventure that is a must-play for action lovers, so don’t miss out on unlocking the full experience of this game on your PC.
