Stellar Blade director explains game’s 0.5 second “lag” when doing perfect parries or dodging 

Stellar Blade’s stylish and fast-paced battle mechanics are one of the upcoming title’s biggest attractions, earning it comparisons to acclaimed action titles such as Sekiro and Bayonetta. Players worldwide attested to the quality of Stellar Blade’s combat when the demo dropped on March 29. However, some players have commented that they have experienced what feels like input lag in certain instances, and Shift Up’s Hyung Tae-Kim recently addressed this topic. 

Hyung Tae-Kim, the director and producer of Stellar Blade, gave an interview to Japanese video game outlet 4Gamer (published on April 25). Discussing the game’s demo, the interviewer inquires about a delay they felt between button press and activation when performing perfect parries or dodging.  

In response, Kim answers: “In Stellar Blade, there is about a 0.5 second lag between the moment you press the button and the moment the skill is visible on-screen. It’s a time lag that can’t be reduced any further. We made it so that the character’s movement does not get triggered immediately upon button press, as we felt this would not fit the game’s style of animation. Thus, we made it so that the skill itself is activated the moment you press the button, but the animation of the movement follows afterwards.” 

It seems that what some players identified as input lag was a choice made by the developers in the interest of keeping Stellar Blade’s character animation fluid. Additionally, it seems there is no actual delay between button press and skill activation, as it is only the animation of the skill that lags behind. 

On the other hand, Kim seems aware that players could potentially encounter issues due to this choice, mentioning that he will keep an eye on feedback and make improvements if necessary. 

Stellar Blade is scheduled to be released on April 26 for the PS5.