Despite the early chatter around its character designs, Stellar Bladechecks all the boxes to become a contemporary classic. The action RPG made a strong debut on PS5 and is now gearing up for its PC release, with every sign pointing to another major hit.
Launched on April 2024, the game from SHIFT UP was met with glowing reviews from critics and players alike. The community praised its fluid combat, beautiful melancholic soundtrack, and striking visual direction.
Those positive comments quickly turned into sales, with the game passing one million units sold within its first few months. Its success even helped the studio achieve record-breaking earnings, and made director Kim Hyung-tae one of the richest individuals in South Korea.
Riding high on this momentum, SHIFT UP wasted no time announcing a PC release and a sequel. And while the latter might still be on the horizon, the port is just around the corner.
Free Stellar Blade demo is a hit on PC
The highly anticipated PC port for Stellar Bladeis set to come out on June 12, alongside the Complete Edition, which includes NieR: Automata outfits and other bonus content. But fans can already step into the game through a free demo, currently available on Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Released just a few days ago, this version is nearly identical to the one that debuted on PS5 over a year ago and offers a first look at the opening segment, as well as the initial boss fight. Players can also try out alternate outfits for EVE and check some of her combat skills.
And apparently that first taste was more than enough to capture attention. While we don’t have user data from the Epic Games Store, the Steam demo hit an impressive peak of 26,443 concurrent players on May 31, outperforming many recent full releases. As of now, over 12,000 gamers are still active on the platform.
The fact that it is completely free certainly helps, but these numbers show a genuine appetite for the title.
No region locks for the PC version
Back in May, fans noticed that Stellar Blade couldn’t be pre-ordered in over 100 countries, many of which lacked PlayStation Network support. This led to concerns that the PC version would face similar region-lock issues as Helldivers 2 and other PlayStation exclusives.
Thankfully, SHIFT UP assured gamers that linking a PSN account would be optional, and worked with Sony to resolve the issue, expanding availability to over 250 territories.
The studio also shared that PC players can finally check out the recommended specs to see if their setup can handle the game, which includes support for NVIDIA DLSS 4, AMD FSR 3, and a wide range of graphical options.
Have you tried the demo yet? How does it run on your PC? Let us know in the comments.