Skip to main content

Free Stellar Blade update adds boss rush mode and eyebrow-raising outfits

Eve fighting a large boss, with sparks flying around them. She's in the new NeuroLink Suit, which has tight red pants and a white top.
Shift Up

A new Stellar Blade update has been released, bringing not only a new challenge mode but a number of outfits, including some surprises.

The first big change to patch 1.003, documented on the PlayStation Blog, is the Boss Challenge, which lets you fight the game’s 19 bosses by themselves. To begin the Boss Challenge, you had to have defeated bosses in the main game because the challenge uses your boss fight data. You can also choose from several preset gear kits or use your own. Combat was one of the highlights of Stellar Blade, so having more enemies to fight is very welcome.

Stellar Blade has become known for its outfits, so of course the update adds three new suits for Eve. One is the Neurolink Suit, which you can get if you defeat all the bosses in the challenge on at least normal difficulty, along with two Nano Suits: White and Black Kunoichi.

According to IGN and other outlets, the update also added two revealing outfits to the game: Midsummer Redhood and Midsummer Alice. They’re skimpier variants on the Bunny and Cybernetic Bondage suits, which were the subject of unsubstantiated claims that Shift Up was being forced by Sony to censor outfits. Their designs had been changed between pre-release promotional images and after the day one patch, with a bit of fabric added to Eve’s chest and hip areas.

In an interview with Shift Up director Kim Hyung Tae, changing the outfits was an intentional choice by the developers. “I can assure you that was our [final] product. We can’t promise you anything right now, but we are discussing the issue internally and hopefully we can make an official statement later,” he said during an interview at MiniMap.

Elsewhere, the update adds some quality-of-life improvements, including the ability to remain locked on an enemy despite changing your attack mode.

Editors' Recommendations

Carli Velocci
Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…
Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days
A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

Read more
3 Days of Play PS Plus games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Key art for Streets of Rage 4.

June 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty great month for PlayStation players. Not only are we coming off an entertaining State of Play showcase, but a new Days of Play initiative surrounding all the video game showcases this month is bringing a lot of new PS Plus additions with it. Many of those games hit PS Plus this week, and three in particular stand out to us.

For owners of Sony's oft-neglected PlayStation VR2, the first game is one of its rare exclusives that take full advantage of the headset's eye-tracking by seeing how often players blink. The next is a new PS Plus Essential game that's a revival of Sega's classic beat-'em-up series for the modern gaming era. Finally, the last title is an atmospheric and eerie fishing game that should entice fans of Lovecraftian horror.
Before Your Eyes

Read more
3 first-party Xbox Game Pass games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Gears 5 Kait Hero Close Up

Microsoft will hold an Xbox Games Showcase and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct. this Sunday. These shows will provide a much better idea of what to expect from Xbox over the course of the next year or two. That's really needed right now, as Microsoft has struggled to keep online discussions around Xbox positive as it went multiplatform with some games, laid off thousands of developers, and outright shut down the developers of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall. Based on leaks and my personal expectations for the showcase, there are three games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this weekend to prepare for the event.

The first is the latest first-person shooter in a long-running series by id Software that might be getting a medieval-set spinoff. After that, we have the fifth entry in a sci-fi Xbox series that still looks fantastic on Xbox Series X/S even though it came out in 2019. Finally, you can prepare for Avowed with the latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, a satirical sci-fi game where player choice is critical.
Doom Eternal

Read more