Highlights

  • Sony officially delays exclusive action-adventure game Stellar Blade, now set for release in 2024.
  • The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, and protagonist Eve fights to defeat Earth's invaders.
  • Stellar Blade will fully utilize PS5's graphics and DualSense controller's haptic feedback for immersive combat experiences.

Sony has officially delayed its upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive action-adventure game Stellar Blade. First announced as Project Eve in 2019, the game was originally being developed for release on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The new name Stellar Blade was unveiled during September 2022’s State of Play, this time as a PS5 exclusive, along with a planned release window of 2023.

Along with the name change, a trailer for Stellar Blade was shown during the State of Play event, providing a glimpse of the game’s story, graphics style, and combat. The action-packed footage drew the attention of many gamers, who found its soundtrack and combat reminiscent of Nier Automata, though whether that turns out to be true is still to be determined. Now, with 2023 coming to a close, it’s become clear that Stellar Blade will indeed not be launching any time this year, but until now there had been no official statement on the matter.

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In a PlayStation.Blog post highlighting things to come for the platform in 2024, the PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade was officially delayed and given a new release window of 2024. Unfortunately, a more precise launch date is still unknown, and developer Shift Up has remained relatively quiet about the project in general.

Stellar Blade is the first console project for Korean developer Shift Up, which until now has focused solely on mobile with its two games Destiny Child and Project NIKKE: The Goddess of Victory. One of the company’s cofounders, artist Kim Hung Tae, has previous experience working on games in the Magna Carta series of RPGs and the MMO Blade & Soul.

Stellar Blade takes place in the near future and tells the story of Eve, a member of a paratrooper squad who is determined to take Earth back from the clutches of invaders called NA:tives. The post-apocalyptic, desolate world has been overrun by a variety of strange creatures, and Eve must defeat them as she quests to uncover some kind of secret, perhaps one that will help her defeat Earth’s conquerors.

The game will now make full use of the PS5, both in terms of graphics and the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback capabilities. The latter will be showcased particularly in the range of weapons that Eve uses, with the technology coming to the fore during combat. By parrying and evading while fighting, the Beta Gauge will slowly fill, allowing Eve to activate different abilities like piercing enemy armor or interrupting their combos. Likewise, successfully pulling off combos will fill the Burst Gauge, which is used to apply buffs or unleash powerful attacks.