While Shift Up itself is yet to make any official announcement about Stellar Blade coming to the Switch 2, the report indicates that the studio has gotten its hands on a development kit for Nintendo’s latest console, and has already started working on a port. The development kit includes unpublished APIs, software that allows a developer to test their games, as well as debugging tools that can further optimise a title to run on the console.

According to the report, the in-development version of Stellar Blade will seemingly tone down the game’s visuals quite a bit to get it running smoothly on the hybrid handheld/home console. The title may also use Nvidia’s DLSS technology to run on the Switch 2. For context, the PC version of Stellar Blade features support for both DLSS 4 as well as AMD’s FSR 3 technologies.

“There is nothing confirmed yet regarding the development of the Switch 2 version of the Stellar Blade,” said Shift Up in a statement (translation via Google). “We are reviewing various possibilities internally.”

The studio had previously also confirmed that it had begun work on a sequel to Stellar Blade. While no official release date has been given, the studio is seemingly targetting 2026 as the release window for Stellar Blade 2. Along with this, Shift Up is also working on a brand new game, dubbed Project Witches, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Stellar Blade has proven to be incredibly successful for Shift Up, with the studio having revealed earlier this week that it had sold over 3 million copies across PC and PS5. The PC version was released just earlier this month and has already contributed quite a bit to the sales figure, with over one million copies sold in three days.

Back in February, Shift Up revealed through an earnings report that it had made roughly $43.2 million from Stellar Blade alone over the previous year. All in all, the studio saw roughly $151.4 million in revenue, a 30.4 percent increase over its previous year. Out of this, $102.3 million were profits, up 33.8 percent year-over-year. Net profits had also gone up, coming in at $98.2 million.

Out of the revenue made, around $105.4 million was cited as coming from gacha game Goddess of Victory: Nikke, accounting for 69.6 percent of total revenue. At the time, Stellar Blade’s PC release wasn’t out yet, and the studio was expecting it to contribute quite heavily to the revenue in the future as well.

Stellar Blade is available on PC and PS5. For more details, check out our review of the original PS5 release, where we gave it a score of 8 out of 10. In our review, we praised the in-depth combat and interesting setting thanks to captivating lore and good visual aesthetics while criticising its spotty writing and boring side quests.

The PC version is even more notable since it recently peaked at 192,078 concurrent Steam players per SteamDB, setting a new record for single-player titles published by PlayStation. At the time of writing, it currently has a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, with 94 percent of the 15,839 user reviews giving it a thumbs-up.

Alongside PC, Stellar Blade is available for PS5. You can check out our review here – we gave it an eight out of ten, praising the combat, boss fights and setting while panning the dialogue, bland side quests and more. It’s received several free updates, adding new outfits and combat challenges, and paid DLC, which includes a collaboration with Square Enix’s NieR: Automata. A sequel is currently in development and targeting a 2026 launch.

The minimum requirements include an Intel Core i5-7600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB) or AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB), and 16 GB RAM at the Low preset for 1080p/60 FPS gameplay. Playing on High preset at 1440p/60 FPS requires a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 3600X, an RTX 2070 SUPER or Radeon RX 6700 XT, and 16 GB RAM.

For 4K/60 FPS at Very High settings, you’ll need a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 3600X, an RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 7900 XT, and 16 GB RAM. It requires 75 GB of installation space, and while an SSD isn’t necessary on the minimum end, it’s mandatory everywhere else.

Stellar Blade launches on June 11th for PC. Check out our review of the PS5 version here.

Original Story:

Shift Up’s Stellar Blade is coming to PC on June 11th, as revealed by a trailer accidentally uploaded to PlayStation’s YouTube channel. Though removed, a Reddit user uploaded a mirror, which you can view here.

The trailer confirms support for upscalers like Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3 alongside Frame and Multi Frame Generation. The environmental textures also have a higher resolution, showcasing more details. The PC version also supports unlocked frame rates, Ultrawide displays (up to 32:9 resolution), and the PS5’s DualSense (including haptic feedback and adaptive triggers).

If that weren’t enough, players can enable Japanese and Chinese voiceovers, challenge Mann, the Sentinels’ leader, in a new boss battle, and customize Eve with 25 new outfits.

The trailer ends by revealing Stellar Blade Complete Edition, which includes the base game, new pre-order cosmetics, and paid DLC for collaborations like NieR: Automata. It also goes live for PC and PS5 on June 11th. Stay tuned for the official announcement in the coming days/weeks. In the meantime, check out our review for the PS5 version.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Finally capitalising on the appetite for games set in feudal Japan, the latest Assassin’s Creed whisks players back to 16^th century Iga province plus Kyoto, Kobe, and Osaka. In Shadows, you’ll be switching your time between night-loving shinobi Naoe and brute force swordsman Yasuke, the real-life first non-Japanese samurai. A brutal civil war’s culminating phase leaves chaos reigning over the land, yet our two protagonists share common destinies as a new era ushers in.

With revenues having gone up, the studio also announced ₩145.58 billion (roughly $102.3 million) in profits, which was up by 33.8 percent year-over-year. This rise in revenue and profits has made 2024 a record year for the studio. Net profits for the studio were up as well, amounting to ₩142.6 billion (roughly $98.2 million).

Of note is that, while mobile gacha game Goddess of Victory: Nikke generated plenty of money – ₩153 billion (roughly $105.4 million) – and accounted for 69.6 percent of total revenue, its revenue was actually lower compared to last year by around 7 percent.

Third-person action game Stellar Blade also made a fair amount of money, totalling up to ₩62.8 billion (roughly $43.2 million). The studio stated that the upcoming PC release of Stellar Blade will likely perform even better than the console version. The studio stated that the game is currently in its optimisation phase, and the studio is even working on getting it running smoothly on the Steam Deck.

Among other things, Shift Up credited the game’s various updates, as well as the NieR: Automata collaboration event from back in November for the success of Stellar Blade.

Currently, the PC version of Stellar Blade doesn’t have a release date, though the studio has stated that it is targeting a 2025 launch for the platform. In the meantime, check out our review of the PS5 release.

Arizona Sunshine Remake

The original Arizona Sunshine from 2016 caused a bit of a stir regarding some of its content being locked behind Intel Core i7 CPUs. Now in 2024, you can play all of that content, including two large DLCs and numerous updates with a ground-up remake to match Arizona Sunshine 2’s visuals. You’re mostly shooting zombies with your two VR hands throughout the linear narrated campaign, but there’s also a lot of quirky environmental interactions that make this a classic VR experience; and best of all, it has three-player co-op to triple the shenanigans. If you own a VR set, Arizona Sunshine Remake is a clear no-brainer.

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2

Space Marine 2’s multiplayer offerings are tremendous fun, but it’s the solo campaign where the core meat and potatoes of the game are found. The story kicks off where Space Marine 1 left off, with Captain Titus returning to command his squad against the Tyranid swarms after a mortal wound. With a runtime around 10 hours long, Space Marine 2’s campaign is a riotous time filled with spectacular vistas and visceral combat. This is a hack and slash in a lot of ways, but Space Marine 2 emphasizes precise countering more than its predecessor, adding a bit of extra skill to the mix. Grabbing a partner to run through the separate co-op missions is a treat as well, but the AI companions aren’t bad either with their consistent healing and tanky defense. Space Marine 2 feels like a blast from the past with its fast-paced campaign density.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

Remaking a horror masterpiece like Silent Hill 2 is no easy feat, yet Bloober somehow pulled it off with great success. A key ingredient in that success is the expanded environments. The atmospheric hallways and foggy outdoor areas greatly encourage exploration, leading the player to a host of new items and collectables that can be viewed from any angle. Helping you navigate the expanded areas is the new over-the-shoulder camera perspective, which gives further context to environments. The original Silent Hill 2 clocked in at around 12 or so hours, but the remake can easily take double that time from all the added exploration. Still, the remake maintains the dense pacing of the original in spite of this, making it one of the more impressive and scary linear games on this list.

Black Myth Wukong

Black Myth Wukong takes a rather unorthodox approach to level design, seesawing back and forth between corridor-like linearity to wide open environments. Most puzzling of all, there’s no map or navigation tools to assist your exploration in the game. Despite this, we couldn’t help but marvel at the variety of biomes and beauty of environments within the Journey To the West-inspired tale. But it isn’t just some of the environments that proceed linearly, your weapons and armor automatically upgrade as you progress too. Black Myth Wukong is a masterclass in focus; it doesn’t meander and bloat the player’s time with frivolous stuff, instead honing in on what makes it great.

Stellar Blade

If you’re familiar with the way Nier Automata handles level design, you’ll feel at home within Stellar Blade. One area that Stellar Blade expands upon its level design is the engaging collectibles scattered across its environments. You have everything from soda cans to posters and boxes of loot to collect, rewarding you with new costumes for Eve and her companions to wear. The wide-linear nature of the environments hits a sweat spot that always manages to make you feel like you’re progressing forward while giving satisfying room for exploration as you do so. Parts of the story have you strictly going from A to B with collectibles nestled within secret routes off the beaten path, while others are open zones meant for questing and exploration. Stellar Blade excels in the way it mixes urgency and exploration with its wide-linear level design.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Hellblade 2 takes quite a different approach to linear level design. Due to the zoomed-in focus on very specific locations, Ninja Theory managed to go all-out decorating each hand-crafted environment and presenting it all with an unmatched cinematic flair. It’s no exaggeration to say that Hellblade 2 is among the most graphically impressive games to date. This combination of chiseled graphical fidelity with cinematic flair help cement Hellblade 2’s Norse-inspired locations into the player’s memory. It may be a straightforward game in all aspects of its gameplay, but Hellblade 2’s psychologically rich narrative and impressive visual presentation punctuate its linear design with a bold exclamation point.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership

Despite introducing a sailing ship into the Mario & Luigi series, Brothership still follows a more or less traditional critical path. The brothers’ overarching goal this time around is lighting the four Great Lighthouses throughout Concordia’s oceans. The developers made sure each of the four Great Lighthouse dungeons were top-tier, earning the top spot on my list of Mario RPG dungeons. When they’re not puzzling their way through the Great Lighthouse dungeons, Mario & Luigi are busy linking together the distinctly themed islands with the ship. Brothership threads its themes of connections brilliantly through the narrative and humorous writing, forming a cohesive story that impresses despite its basic appearance.

The Plucky Squire

The Plucky Squire mashes together a bunch of different genres onto the framework of a top-down adventure game. A majority of your time is spent swinging around a sword defeating enemies, but the sheer amount of odd little minigames ranging from Punch-Out sequences, to Duck Hunt shootouts, and even some turn-based RPG fun, is chaotically enduring. And then there’s the puzzles that ask you to rearrange sentences for new props to appear inside the picture book you inhabit. And yes, you even get to pop out of the book and into ‘the real world’ several times. The pop-up book aesthetic puts a bow on the whole package, making The Plucky Squire one of the most enduring linear games of the year.

Neva

Like the studio’s previous game Gris, Neva does more than just offer up a compelling platforming game; it’s an emotional audio/visual art piece. The bond between Alba and her wolf pup Neva grows as the seasons change throughout the adventure, manifested in turn by more advanced platforming challenges. Neva differentiates itself from Gris with its emphasis on combo-based combat and precision platforming sequences, providing a punchy and satisfying linear adventure full of heart.

Akimbot

If you’re looking for an old-school action/adventure game that’s as straightforward as it is fun, look no further than Akimbot. Like its Ratchet and Clank inspiration, you have a range of gun types to unload on enemies with through a linear story. The pacing of the action is non-stop, supplying a constant stream of action-platforming fun. And the best thing is its gameplay doesn’t overstay its welcome thanks to a variety of activities and sequences breaking up the usual run-and-gunning (such as the bullet hell sections). Akimbot is one of the those games that’s effortless to just drop in and play without too much thought or prep-work, and I still often get the urge to start up another playthrough many months after completing it.

Lego Horizon Adventures

Despite its open world source material, the Lego-fied version of Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most linear and straightforward Lego games to date. You play through the basic storyline of Horizon Zero Dawn through linear mission-based levels, returning to the Mother’s Heart hub area in between your excursions. There’s not a ton of exploration in this game except for some smaller open areas and branching paths in the levels, but the hub does allow for some satisfying customization and personalization. Whether you’re a Horizon fan or a Lego connoisseur, you owe it to yourself to play this unique take on the PlayStation IP solo or with two other friends.

Princess Peach Showtime

If you’re looking for a fun mish-mash of different gameplay ideas and themes presented in true Nintendo fashion, Princess Peach Showtime will satisfy. Each stage has a unique theme that completely alters the gameplay and aesthetics, as well as, of course, Peach’s outfit. From lassoing up bandits on a horse to swordfighting through hack and slash dungeons, the creative levels give you reasons to come back and replay them. Like previous Good Feel games, stages are absolutely filled with collectables and secrets, providing solid replay value.

Astro Bot

Unlike Princess Peach or Akimbot, Astro Bot takes a more open approach to some of its levels, taking a cue from something like Super Mario Galaxy. Still, Astro Bot’s levels comprise mostly linear challenges, and oh how fun they are. 3D platforming never felt better than with Astro Bot’s high tech Dual Sense functionality – it goes beyond a mere gimmick, being a primary function of gameplay. Every action in the game is accompanied by a signature rumble from the controller. Each stage is tailored specifically to the PS5 and its controller, providing a unique kind of console experience. Likewise, stages take full advantage of Astro’s abilities in creative and imaginative ways, proving that linearity can be an enormous strength in platforming games.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak

I know, I know, an ongoing JPRG series with a dozen connected games is a hard sell for most folks. But you owe it to yourself to give Trails Through Daybreak the light of day. For one, it forms the beginning of a new arc with a fresh cast of characters set in a different province from previous games. It’s also just a phenomenal turn-based RPG through and through. If you enjoy dialogue-heavy RPG stories with a linear structure that lets you explore its towns at your own pace, Trails Through Daybreak may be the surprise hit that gets you invested into the wider series.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Not only is this the first Indy game in 15 years, it’s also a return for MachineGames after their run of successful Wolfenstein reboot titles. As previews have observed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle features a lot of stealth. Its core gameplay revolves less around – well, revolvers – than you’d come to expect, supplying an experience more in line with the Thief series. You’re often hiding  behind baddies to knock them out before finding that ever elusive key to the locked door down the hallway. What we’ve seen of the trailers has us reassured that MachineGames knows what makes Indiana Jones stories so fun charming. Hopefully, the stealth mechanics and story manage to reach the highs that the IP has been lacking in recent years when Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches December 9^th.

Black Myth: Wukong

Chinese game developer Game Science has had a strong debut with Black Myth: Wukong, which will undoubtedly go down as one of the best action experiences of 2024. Based on the classic novel Journey to the West, Black Myth is a thrilling boss rush that starts off strong and never lets its foot off the gas pedal afterward. It’s chock full of memorable fights that are sure to push you to your absolute limits, and the combat rarely gets stale thanks to plenty of abilities and options at your disposal. Couple that with a bevy of imaginative vistas beautifully brought to life through Unreal Engine 5, and that makes Black Myth Wukong a truly special experience and worthy of all the hype.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

There’s something about the second entry in Konami’s survival horror series that keeps fans coming back years and years after its launch. Perhaps it’s the Crime and Punishment-styled plot and how complex James Sunderland’s character, ego and all, is portrayed as he roams this nightmare manifest. While concerns arose over Bloober Team adapting the classic (especially given its previous horror titles), it ultimately delivered on its vision of Silent Hill 2.

Changes seemed a given, whether the over-the-shoulder camera, new attacks for enemies, a more extensive range of areas to explore or a new voice cast. However, Silent Hill 2 remake is a masterpiece in dread-inducing terror, whether you’re walking through its fog-covered streets and watching something scurry nearby or locked in a desperate battle with Pyramid Head. Several sections witnessed significant alterations but didn’t hamper the pacing or story-telling, and the presentation, especially composer Akira Yamaoka’s music, is top-notch. The restless dreams of Konami’s classic will likely continue for generations to come, but the remake offers an excellent homecoming for longtime fans.