Anime action game Project Eve is now called Stellar Blade, coming in 2023

The hack 'n slash action fighter Project Eve, first unveiled back in 2019, has a new name and a release year. It's now called Stellar Blade and will be a PS5 console exclusive (read: it'll probably come to PC, too). Sony aired a new trailer during today's State of Play that showed a nice chunk of combat.

We got our first good look at Stellar Blade last year during another PlayStation showcase. That trailer mostly showed off the melee side of its combat system that reminds me a lot of a Platinum game, but today's showcase focused on the guns: arm-mounted machineguns and railguns, to be exact. It looks like between sword combos, players can take aim at any time to pelt enemies with bullets, too. It's good to cover all your bases when fighting 15-foot ogres with two lava balls for hands.

The trailer also touches on story, which is still a bit vague but seems to start with a team of sci-fi warriors trying to save a forgotten city buried beneath a post-apocalyptic wasteland. There may also be some generational destiny stuff going on with the protagonist—to be honest, I was more enthralled by the guy with a giant spinning chainsaw wheel for a head.

The gameplay snippets already look cool, but what Stellar Blade really has going for it is being very, very pretty. Makes sense—this is one of the first PS5 console exclusives that'll really get to stretch its legs by leaving the PS4 behind. Stellar Blade is being made by Shift Up Corporation, a Korean outfit that's actively recruiting developers for the game. It's due out sometime in 2023.

Morgan Park
Staff Writer

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.