We got a first look at Stellar Blade on Nintendo Switch 2, here are our thoughts

We got a first look at Stellar Blade on Nintendo Switch 2, here are our thoughts

Posted on August 31, 2026 by Richard Ford in Previews, Switch 2

I can’t speak for others, but it really caught me off-guard with how big a splash Stellar Blade made when it launched back in 2024. It felt like the game came out of left field and immediately built a large fanbase, sold brilliantly well, and led to a sequel getting put into production quite rapidly afterwards. Stellar Blade was a really graphically intense video game, however, so it wasn’t able to make it to Nintendo Switch players’ hands. Well, I’m happy to say that the version of Stellar Blade for Nintendo Switch 2 I played at Gamescom 2026 was a very strong, competent port that is of comparable quality to other versions already released. 

Inside a booth at Gamescom, I found myself sat at a table with ShiftUp’s DongKi Lee opposite me, a translator sat to my left. In the middle of the small table between was an undocked Nintendo Switch 2 with Stellar Blade booted up. As I played the game, Mr. Lee would provide some tips and tricks for me after learning I hadn’t played the game previously.

Starting from the game’s opening cutscene, we’re introduced to our female lead protagonist Eve, and the chaos surrounding the tutorial opener as a lot of ladies like Eve bite the dust after crash landing. There’s a lot going on here in the game’s opening with people fighting in the background, fire effects and explosions, all sorts of action. To my amazement, the game never chugged once, featuring a locked frame rate without any frame drops. While speaking to Mr. Lee as I played, he explained that it was paramount to the team that there wasn’t a disconnect when Nintendo Switch 2 players move from docked to undocked gameplay. Battery life felt like it sapped quite quickly, though apparently the system has a 3-4 hour battery lifespan on handheld before needing to charge.

Ultimately the results show that the game feels incredible to play portably. It didn’t feel like there was any lag as the game taught me the core fighting mechanics of its battle system, where it’s inspiration from NieR: Automata is especially clear. The vibe and the atmosphere does echo that title, and if people enjoyed that game when it released on the original Nintendo Switch, I could really see this game being up their alley.

In the first proper stage which I got to play during the demo, there was some light platforming and puzzle solving elements involved in progressing through the stage. Here, Mr. Lee points out something unique to Nintendo Switch 2: for a puzzle where the requirement is to open a gate by copying a passcode the player finds nearby, the touch screen can be utilized to put the code in faster. It’s a small feature, but it was cool seeing the handheld mode do something that wasn’t possible on other releases of the game. I was able to see some other elements in the game as well, like skill trees and item pickups, and my time with the game had to come to a halt halfway through the level.

I came out of the game wanting to see more. As someone who never played NieR, but absolutely loves a good third person action game, the character designs and flow of the combat really jived with me, and right away I’ve seen enough in this port of the game to be perfectly happy playing the full version on Nintendo Switch 2. 

I did go into the demo concerned that maybe this version would feel inferior just because of how power-intensive the style of the game is, but I came out thinking that Shift Up have done an outstanding job putting on it on Nintendo’s console. If you’re like me and you feel like you missed the boat on Stellar Blade, now is the right time to hop on board as Blood Rain lurks beyond the horizon – though we’ll have to wait and see if that game comes over to the Big N’s system as well.

More: highlight, Shift Up, Stellar Blade, top