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PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade is getting a free demo later this week

Eve kneeling with her sword.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Shift Up and Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed that a free demo for its upcoming sci-fi action game Stellar Blade will launch this Friday, March 29.

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The free demo and its impending release were confirmed on PlayStation Blog this morning after Sony accidentally made the demo available on the PlayStation Store for about 20 minutes earlier this month. At this time, it seems like the demo will remain on the PlayStation Store indefinitely after it’s initially released this Friday. As for the contents of the demo itself, Sony and Shift Up say that this is a demo featuring the opening moments of the game.

Starting right at the beginning of Stellar Blade, this demo will take players through the opening cinematics, early game tutorials, and first major boss fight, all of which are centered around a mission to clear a human city infested by creatures called the Naytiba. Just like the final version of Stellar Blade, this demo will run at 60 frames per second and feature English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Korean, and Latin-Spanish voiceovers.

Players who clear the demo will be able to carry over their progress to the full game when it comes out next month as long as their save data is stored on the PS5 console and not the cloud. Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung Tae also teased that there will be “a little surprise included for players who complete the first stage,” but didn’t get any more specific than that.

This demo comes out for free on March 29, while the whole Stellar Blade game will be released exclusively on PS5 for $70 on April 26.

Tomas Franzese
A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
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