Don’t mind me triple back-flipping into a parry with my Stellar Blade (heh). My blade in this context is an RTX 5090 gaming laptop, the question is: how well does this PlayStation exclusive hold up on PC?
If you’re nostalgic for the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta era, Stellar Blade is a similar action-adventure game with a whole lot of style and a sprinkle of Soulslike energy. But similar to that era, it also walks a questionable line between objectifying or empowering its female cast. It was written and directed by men, so take that for what you will.
I played Stellar Blade on an HP Omen Max 16 outfitted with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 24GB GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, OLED display.
Here’s how it ran.
Getting bodied by Cthulhu’s children
Stellar Blade threw me right into the action, and I found myself parrying and slashing through the borderline eldritch horrors that are the Naytiba. Then I discovered another eldritch horror… the looting system. Those tiny, unlabeled rainbow dots are way too easy to walk right past. Thankfully, you can enable auto-loot.
Good news, my fellow DualSense lovers. Stellar Blade on PC is compatible with those unique DualSense features. I didn’t know how much of it would be used, but when I got to the first city, I felt the pleasant tingle of the subtle haptic feedback simulating the rain around me. And each slash of my weapon felt unique and impactful.
As for the graphics, I hopped across dilapidated city rooftops with everything turned up to Very High at a 2560 x 1600 resolution. That applies to all of the following tests. Stellar Blade developer Shift Up included native support for Nvidia’s DLSS 4 technology, which you can access with an RTX 50-series GPU
DLSS 4 is a supersampling technology that boosts visuals and performance. We’ve seen native support in many titles at this point, from Doom: The Dark Ages to Dune: Awakening. I’m a fan and critic of the technology because I’ve seen what happens when tools like Multi-Frame Generation are relied upon too heavily, like in Monster Hunter Wilds. For those unaware, frame generation produces frames with AI that analyzes the true frames rendered on your GPU. This is dark magic at best because not everything is all sunshine and rainbows, but let’s get into it.
I took to the streets with my new perfect dodge and tried to slay those Cricket Slashers and got poisoned to death — ouch. With no help from DLSS, my RTX 5090 laptop GPU managed a strong 106 frames per second on TAA. If you want to go raw graphics with no upscaling, the RTX 5090 will take you for a smooth ride.
Now, I am a diehard advocate for making games as playable as possible without upscaling, but I cannot help but enjoy DLSS’ DLAA upscaler. This uses native resolution to enhance the overall visuals. It’s more taxing than raw performance, but it looked flawless when I gave one of those beefier Guardians a beatdown at 92 fps. But what happened when I turned frame generation on?
Frame generation is not without its trade-offs; you might see some artifacts or overall fuzziness here and there. I did see some in the windows of a building in the distance, but for the most part, Stellar Blade does a great job of keeping things smooth.
Set to DLAA, I tested 2x Frame Generation (FG) and 4x Multi-Frame Generation (MFG). I saw the immediate impact with FG when I perfectly dodged my way through a group of enemy combos, averaging a strong 141 fps. As I swam my way to the next camp, the RTX 5090 pulled through 224 fps with MFG.
If you don’t want to use frame generation to maximize your frames, you can opt for the High Performance mode. Upscaling with raw performance netted me 128 fps as I tried to navigate through this hella confusing cityscape — seriously, I’m both delighted and annoyed by the multi-directional parkour. But if you want to really go hard on frame rates, you can flip on frame generation on top of the High Performance mode. With FG, I got 211 fps when I doubled back and failed to dodge that stupid Cricket Slasher. And when I got bodied by Abaddon, the RTX 5090 managed a whopping 316 fps. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t so furious at that lightning turd.
Overall, I’m happy with how Stellar Blade performs with kitted-out hardware. And thankfully, the minimum spec requirements are quite light as well, requiring just a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB GPU. And if you’re interested in getting one of the best gaming laptops, you can expect some stellar performance, with or without DLSS 4 black magic.
Settings | Frames per second |
|---|---|
TAA | 106 fps |
DLSS: DLAA | 92 fps |
DLSS: DLAA, FG (2x) | 141 fps |
DLSS: DLAA, MFG (4x) | 224 fps |
DLSS: High Performance | 128 fps |
DLSS: High Performance, FG (2x) | 211 fps |
DLSS: High Performance, MFG (4x) | 316 fps |
