Shift Up’s Stellar Blade was a surprise hit when it first hit the scene in 2024, and the first sequel, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, is now in development. While it’s still early days for now, several details about the game have been revealed. We’ve still got plenty of questions regarding its exact place in the Stellar Blade timeline, how its gameplay is shaping up, and why anyone thought it was a good idea to make a generative AI music video featuring Blood Rain’s protagonist, but for now, here’s everything that we know about the game so far.
Stellar Blade: Blood Rain Release date
So far, no release date for Stellar Blade: Blood Rain has been announced yet. Don’t expect to see Blood Rain out for quite some time, maybe even not until 2030, as following the June 2026 reveal trailer at Summer Game Fest, Shift Up said the game was in early development. Stellar Blade was announced in 2019 and didn’t release until 2024, so there’s some time to wait yet.
Stellar Blade: Blood Rain Platforms
Stellar Blade was a timed exclusive on PS5 when it first launched, as Sony published the game. A PC port would arrive later, but for Blood Rain, Shift Up will self-publish the sequel. That could mean a multi-platform release for both PC and PS5, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Stellar Blade: Blood Rain Gameplay
We’ve only gotten a small tease of what’s to come, but it looks like the new protagonist of Blood Rain, Evie, is a pint-sized powerhouse. Whereas Stellar Blade’s protagonist, Eve, used graceful swordplay to overcome her foes, Evie looks like she prefers to brawl with her explosive close-quarters attacks. Combat is where Stellar Blade excelled, as the game merged souls-like influences with traditional action game mechanics that create a challenging but exciting system for players to master.
Evie will likely have her own set of skills to upgrade and use in battle, but we don’t know yet if she’ll be facing off against hostile machines or grotesque Naytibas mutations–maybe both!
Blood Rain Story
Shift Up has teased that Blood Rain will continue the story beyond the events of the first game. So far, we’ve seen Evie track down an elusive terrorist inside of a bustling cyberpunk city, a far cry from the post-apocalyptic environments of the first game.
Shift Up is also looking to give players a protagonist with some personality with Evie. The studio was criticized for only focusing on the aesthetics of Eve and forgetting to install a personality into her, but with Evie, Shift Up says it learned a few lessons on character development from its other game, Goddess of Victory: Nikke, and the community around it.
“Of course, I really like Eve’s appearance too, but rather than simply creating physical attractiveness, with Evie, we’re focused on making a character that players can genuinely come to love,” director and studio CEO Hyung-tae Kim said to Famitsu (via Automaton).
There’s a Stellar Blade: Blood Rain music video, but it’s controversial
You’d think that a music video featuring your game protagonist would earn you some more fans, but in the case of Shift Up, using generative AI to create that piece of media has annoyed almost everyone who saw it. Many Stellar Blade fans have dragged Shift Up for using the tech, but its CEO has responded to the backlash by saying that the AI used was merely adapting the original work of human artists and designers.
“The AI is not creating her from scratch,” Kim wrote. “It is rendering and presenting the character based on the data, designs, and craftsmanship our team created. It is rendering and presenting the character based on the data, designs, and craftsmanship our team created.”
Kim had also previously spoken at the South Korean “Economic Growth Strategy” briefing, where he expressed his belief that AI will be an “essential tool for going up against large competitors like China on a global level.” Shift Up is based in South Korea, a country that has invested heavily in AI technologies and is home to massive corporations like Samsung, which are profiting handsomely from the AI boom that has led to component shortages and rising prices for consumers.
💸 Earn Instantly With This Task
No fees, no waiting — your earnings could be 1 click away.
Start Earning
