Stellar Blade demo launches March 29

With the recent release of the demo for hack-and-slash action game Stellar Blade, developer Shift Up has taken to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to tell its players to go easy on the game’s demo.

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up, previously known for the likes of Goddess of Victory: Nikke, has repeatedly discussed the challenges of shifting to a more ambitious, current-gen action RPG, especially in a mobile-dominated market like South Korea's. In a new making-of documentary from PlayStation, some of the studio's heads explain in more detail that "many people felt we were out of our mind" for pursuing this project and platform. 

The highly-anticipated PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade is already beating the recently-released RPG Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in terms of one major metric: daily active players for its demo. A new, unproven IP like Stellar Blade gaining higher player counts than a mainline game from an established franchise like Final Fantasy bodes well for the commercial success of the new sci-fi game.

With a demo currently pulling in almost double the players of the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo, Stellar Blade is turning heads, and not just for the reason you’d think. While many on social media are pointing at the heroine’s assets for the game’s popularity, its gameplay has been seeing ample praise, predicting great things for release day on April 26.

Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer SHIFT UP have released the first chapter in a series of developer diaries for action adventure game Stellar Blade. The first chapter is titled “The Journey.”

Shift Up has asked players to “go easy” on the Stellar Blade demo, which is proving to be a hit with players.

The demo for Korean developer Shift Up’s action-adventure game Stellar Blade is out now – for real this time. The demo was accidentallypushed out early to the PlayStation Store a couple of weeks ago and quickly taken down, but players eager to give the game a spin can now do so without worry.

Stellar Blade’s launch date is approaching pretty quickly, as we’ll be zipping around and slashing up enemies as Eve in just a couple of weeks. To prepare themselves as much as possible, fans of the title have been using the demo to get some practice in, adjust to the game’s combat, and get some grinding down to ensure they’re nice and ready.

Arguably the biggest inspiration behind the upcoming PS5 action RPG Stellar Blade isn't the gameplay of Nier Automata or the '90s vibes of classic sci-fi manga Gunnm, but an event that left director Kim Hyung Tae lingering in thought. 

Stellar Blade launches in just a few short weeks on PS5. You may have already sampled the action adventure firsthand by way of the recently released demo in which Eve, a member of the 7th Airborne Squad, is sent to a desolated Earth on a mission to reclaim the planet from the mysterious, malevolent Naytiba and save humankind. If so, you’ll have had a taste of the game’s mechanics and combat, its story, and creature design. To dig in further, we sat down with Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung Tae (who is also founder of Stellar Blade development studio Shift Up)  and technical director Lee Dong Gi to learn more about the studio’s background, the game’s inspirations and more. 

Stellar Blade studio Shift Up has discussed its DLC plans for the upcoming PS5 exclusive.

Stellar Blade is only a few weeks away, which means developer Shift Up has started doing its best to convince people why they need to play it. Its excellent demo is definitely helping the team achieve that goal, but director Kim Hyung Tae has been doing the rounds to provide more enticing details about Stellar Blade, and they're not just about Eve's figure.