Stellar Blade fans who’ve done their time in the game’s campaign and are thirsty for more are in luck, with developer Shift Up revealing that a new update for the game is dropping today that adds the previously-promised “Boss Challenge” mode, among other new additions.
The new mode allows players to re-challenge any of the 19 bosses they’ve encountered in the main game, either with their own existing progression and loadout for EVE or from a number of presets designed to make the fights easier or harder. Multiple difficulty levels are also available, including a Hard mode for those who’ve finished the game.
Beating the fights in Boss Challenge will give players a readout of metrics to show them how well they did, and to compare with friends, and taking all 19 down in at least Normal difficulty will unlock the new Neurolink Suit for Eve:
On top of this, the update adds some new quality-of-life improvements, including the option to keep the compass always-on in the game’s HUD, and improvements to the lock-on behaviour when switching from ranged to melee attacks. Two more new nano suits for EVE will also be available in-game, the White Kunoichi and Black Kunoichi suits.
You can find all of the info and screenshots at the PlayStation Blog here.
We gave Stellar Blade a huge 9/10 in our review last month, with Harry saying, “Stellar Blade recalls the classic era of character-action games in truly inspired fashion. It might struggle to deliver on its core narrative, and its platforming is often more frustrating than it isn’t, but neither of those things are enough to bring down a thoroughly enjoyable action experience. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but manages to build on them in engaging fashion with a deliciously layered combat system and gorgeous presentation to boot.”
