Stellar Blade: Blood Rain Is the PS5 Sequel You've Been Waiting For

Day 1 without question, shift up have earned my trust.

Yes sir!!!!!! Goty right here I'm still in shock with this reveal
The outfits and mods are about to go ballistic I love it

loved Stellar Blade, got the platinum and was my personal GotY, the melee combat looks great, this will be a day one for me.

Looks fantastic and looks like a massive improvement over the first game.

Holy ***** that looks absolutely breathtaking!

This looks SO sick! Day one for sure!

Easily the best looking game shown off.

I’ll be there day one. One of my favorite games this generation, and I thoroughly enjoyed my platinum.

@get2sammyb Well yeah you get a review copy

Damn that looked so vastly different from the 1st game. Genuinely insane and gorgeous, I need it noww

Can't wait! Hopefully it isn't more than a couple of years away!

Shift Up are absolutely cooking! This looks amazing!

The visual glow-up from the first, already excellently looking game, is absolutely massive. Day one purchase, no question!

does she only fight in hand to hand combat sure looked that way?

That looked really promising. Even though just a snippet, voice acting and direction seemed much improved, and the whole presentation had some heavy Ghost in the Shell vibes in all the best ways.

Why did they make her look so much like a teenager?

Ok this looks MUCH better then the first game.

@SystemAddict that meme needs context to work

@Oram77 see SpayeR74

Great trailer and my favourite with the REV trailer. That combat looks already so satisfying. And the jiggles are still there which is delightful too. Let's go!!!

Where’s my girl eve

The moment the trailer showed that cake, i know it's a new Stellar Blade 😁

Interesting that they choose hand to hand combat after the first game focus on hack & slash.

I'll get it day one, just hope it's 2027 or at the latest, early '28.

Give me this game… NOW!!!

So they have gone from Eve to Evie?

Just take my money now. Looks freaking awesome!

I don’t know man, this looks so much like all the Gen AI videos to my eye. Also I don’t want to play a Girl looking 14 years old…

@Greifchen yah I’ll be honest wanted eve 2.0

The only good announcement of the show! Let's go Shift Up!

That is definitely not the SB2 I was expecting...

The fact that not even a platform or release year has been announced says it all.

And naming the game Stellar BLADE even though you only fight with your fists—well, that’s certainly a choice.

Amazing looking game, loved Stellar Blade

Resetera already grumbling about the looks of the main character and that she is 'too conventionally attractive' and 'looks like a 14 year old' lol I mean how desperate are they when they're onto the ad hominems already.

And must be great if those loons are upset with it.

@KawakiisaFraud They showed a triangle button prompt so at least we can expect PS5/6 will get the game.

@1970sGamer You shouldn't care so much about what Neogaf rejects thinks.

Definitely interested. Shift Up proved their worth with the first one for sure. Not sure I’m wild about the move to more melee focused combat though as I’ve always preferred shooters over brawlers. And it looks a little at first glance like they’ve dialed back the overt sexiness of the first game. Regardless, I’m definitely picking it up but depending on when it’s coming out and what else is releasing around it, I may hold off for a bit. But again this was just a first glance so we’ll see what the deal is as we see more of the game revealed.

The first one was a bit too on the nose for me. But give the girl short hair and make it all a bit gritty and suddenly I freaking love it.

No idea what this means.

Day 1 purchase for sure. 💯

@BearsEatBeets Presumably the third game will star Evelyn, which means we can assume a 4 game arc ending with Evangeline right?

This looked incredible. Cannot wait!

@get2sammyb
Yeah, probably 2029 but I'm hoping there's a chance of earlier.

I bought the first one but haven't played it. This honestly looked like one of the best things at the show. Time to break that shrink wrap.

I loved the first game so im excited for this. I know it's PC footage but it's starting to look more and more like a PS6 title every time I re-watch the trailer.

I couldn't get into the first one. Gameplay was cool but DA, dialogues and story bored me out of the demo.

This one though... The cyberpunk style is actually hyping me ^^

Shockingly I still haven't played the first game but it's on my list of games to play before I'm 60..looks pretty cool already but I can hear all those that had problems with the first game rattling their pitchforks and rolling the barrels of tar...

Some FfXIII inspiration in the music perhaps? I loved that soundtrack

Ghost in the (Stellar) Shell. Sweet.

This was everything I wanted. And the Hand-to-hand combat look nuts. Shift-Up about to drop another hit!

@S1ayeR74 Yep, combat and everything looks much better. You can tell the studio got even bigger budget after Stellar Blade 1.

One of the best highlights, new SB title! Lets go!!🔥🔥🔥

@Flora2122 I actually didn't like the first game. I played the demo and it just didn't meld with me, found it to be a bit fussy with the combat? Enemies a bit boring. Felt a bit like an excuse to draw beautiful women with jiggle physics at max lol, probably too old for that now. But this game just seemed much tighter and more focused, hand to hand combat was fast and furious, also a tighter setting too. Game felt more alive having crowds in it. Will definitely be taking a look at it when it's out, but I don't think this will be out till 2028 or 29 as they said it was very early in development.

It could even be a cross gen game with boosted graphics in PS6!

Cracking news bring it on! Not good news for the terminally offended though ha ha ha!

Everyone saying massive improvement visually. To me? No. It's a different art direction. I like both styles equally

Only complaint I have is I wish her hair was much much longer! A shame!

I'm not sure how psyched I am about playing a teenager in skin tight lycra, but I do like the futurepunk/Blade Runner aesthetic - combat looks fun too

Not a huge fan of what seems to be the main protagonist, but the environment is stunning.

Hopefully this one will actually have a good story and characters to accompany it's great gameplay

That looked a lot less goonerific than the first one. One shot was very Ghost in the Shell except she kept her clothes on.

It's not even been confirmed it's coming to ps5 not confirmed for any platform

Interesting.

Female lead in a game that looks boring = You're a misogynistic woman hating pig, for not liking it.

Game that actually looks fun, having a woman in the lead, that THEY don't like, because she's good looking? = We are STILL misogynistic pigs!

Double standards?

@Toot1st The trailer showed triangle button prompt so big chance PS5 (and possibly PS6) will get it.

They're not gonna skip the platform where the 1st game started, have a big chunk of the fanbase like 3.7 million copies sold, as well the partner who helped them funded, published, and promoted the game.

This and FF7 Revelation. I'm soooo happy now.

@Greifchen It's not even so much that the protag looks 14, but that she looks 14 AND they're trying to sexualise her... feels a little Epsteiny

@Lysterao just look at the other comment saying that he wishes she had longer hair. That's the world we live in right now.

Stellar Blade Epstein Edition🤣

Yeah, now that I’ve slept on it, I don’t know what to make of it. I always wanted Raven to be the next MC. And I probably wasn’t the only one... I would’ve been fine with Eve, of course, but a 12-year-old kid? Nah, sorry—not interested.

And I’m not sure if Shift Up isn’t overreaching here. Stellar Blade was successful because Eve was a beautiful, mature woman. Evie, on the other hand, is a 12-year-old girl, yet she’s being sexualized; that might work in Korea or Japan, but not here in the West. Especially with all that Epstein crap...And China is likely to become problematic too—after all, it is the largest market.

Furthermore, the game seems to be full of AI slop; there are already plenty of images showing, for instance, that Evie’s fingers are deformed.

But hey, it doesn't matter anyway—all those YouTube anti woke grifter a****** are absolutely eating it up, and their hatred for Sony knows no bounds.

Sony might actually emerge as the big winner here, because the game is going to spark even greater controversy than the first installment. The masks are already falling.

I was only hoping for a Stellar Blade sequel. Now We're even getting a Blood Rain Sequel.

@KawakiisaFraud thanks for making me feel better. Russia might be a hellhole, but comments like yours make me glad I'm not "here in the West".

My favourite games by far last year..its ambiance and mood is thick, and the combat, divine,... at certain times, when that beat drops, and you're high on estatic bliss, you repeat once more , 'fuuuuuckn awesome!' While laughing in rapturous gleee.. gawd and the visuals! A plethora of eye candy, so beautiful! I cant wait for this one! They've learned alot since then..it'll be mind blowing ..

@KawakiisaFraud shes not human, get a grip

@Greifchen android..not a girl

There is a very specific moment in the trailer where Evie is bobbing and weaving between attacks like its God Hand and I am suddenly reminded that Shift Up bought Shinji Mikami's new studio in April.

@DarianStarfrog Yep, a few comments on here are laughable - not in Resetera's league, where they've already locked the thread because they couldn't stand people saying they liked the look of the game, but still....

"Won't someone please think of the pixels!" lunacy.

@DarianStarfrog She looks and acts exactly like a 14 year old girl... does it matter if she's technically an android? If that's the sort of slexcuse you have to make, then maybe we should be checking your hard drive. Get a grip yourself, normalising stuff like this leads to very real consequences for very real ACTUAL human girls. The creeps aren't going to stop "oh, my bad, you looked exactly like an indistinguishable android to me, but you're not, so I'm going to leave you alone"....

@1970sGamer It's not about the pixels, it's about the real world consequences that inevitably follow the normalisation of sexualising under aged characters.

But you're probably smart enough to figure that out for yourself.

Otherwise, the game looks great. That aspect is just genuinely concerning.

@Lysterao I wonder what's going on in your neighborhood if acting like 14 years old girl means beating grotesque monsters with bare hands and dodging like Max Payne.

@Dalamar good luck in Russia. Proud American here.

Only if it has a photo mode at launch because the core fan base won't be able to play with themselves, sorry, the game, on day 1 otherwise

@Dalamar yeah that's what he meant obviously. I guess he means beating grotesque monsters and dodging like Max Payne whilst looking like a sexualised child?

We're not supposed to get sequels this fast. It's supposed to take forever. Who does Shift Up think they are?

It was announced for PS5? I didn't see any platforms revealed, except that the Demo was running on PC.

@PuppetMaster probably not no waa stating that haven't announced any platform yet

I'm still playing catchup on the event, but this, for me, is unquestionably being bought. The first one had it's weak points (and detractors), but it took me back 20 years by just being a fun game to play. And the support ShiftUp have put into it is unreal in this day and age, various updates added things, but they also refined a lot of textures and background objects, and NPC's.
The only thing I think they've missed is I was hoping the sequel would expand on the city of Xion, having been so much bigger than where we are allowed to go in the original, it's been begging to be opened up and explored more since day dot.

@Glorioso Gameranx had it listed as PC/PS5. I can't see ShiftUp dumping on the PS5 playerbase after providing such stellar support for the game. Although I completely understand them wanting to decouple from PlayStation corporate, I was kinda hoping there'd be an xbox version as well.

@LiamOliver Several sites did it too, but I didn't see anyone from Shift Up mentioning anything else then the demo was running on PC.

I'm, not a fan of exclusives, especially third party like Stelar Blade that I love, and I'm going to do another run again after this news.

Not liking the sexualization of what appears to be an underaged main character. If they can address that, I’ll be down! Because otherwise it looks awesome.

@Glorioso Someone from ShiftUp did an interview I believe, I've been meaning to look it up but busy weekend, I'm hoping there's more info there. Although I'm surprised they haven't been bombarded on socials about it, if I was (still) on any I'd probably have had a go by now... I've lost count of how many times I've played it through, it's still a blast every time, and from what I've picked up on so far Blood Rain should be very much in the same vein. Where have people got the idea this Evie is a child from?

@LiamOliver The interview
https://www.inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?news=317188

@Greifchen "Also I don’t want to play a Girl looking 14 years old…"
That's honestly a pretty odd comment. Do you have a problem playing, say, Windwaker because you play as a boy that looks 8? There are so many games where the MC is a kid. Mario is basically a toddler with a moustache stuck on. In Pokemon you play as an 11 year old. What about when you play as Ellie in TLoU or the DLC where she's about 13/14?