The Patch 1.003 for Stellar Blade has gone live and so has the new Boss Challenge mode, new Nano Suits, and other features.

As revealed in a PlayStation Blog post, Patch 1.003 for Stellar Blade has now been released as of May 24, 2024 – adding in the previously announced Boss Challenge mode alongside more new outfits for EVE as well as improved convenience features.

Boss Challenge

In the Boss Challenge mode, you get to go toe-to-toe against 19 bosses from the Stellar Blade base game.

To challenge the bosses, you would have to collect battle data from them as you defeat them. Furthermore, bosses can be challenged in Hard difficulty once you have seen the ending of the game once.

You can either load up and use your current gear for the challenge or choose one of the several presets. There is the minimum preset for a “true challenge, or the maximum preset, where all of your skills and stats buffed up, allowing you to “taunt the boss with some spectacular combat”.

After successfully defeating the boss in the challenge, your battle data will be recorded with metrics based on your performances such as the time used, number of perfect parries and dodges, consumable usage, and more.

New Battle Suits 

Not only are you able to flex your score to your friends but successfully defeating all bosses in the Boss Challenge on Normal difficulty or higher will yield you the Neurolink Suit for EVE!

That’s not the only new suit added in this update for EVE, as there are two additional ones to fashion EVE with.

The suits are:

• Black Kunoichi 

• White Kunoichi 

QoL Improvements 

Apart from the new game mode and suits, Patch 1.003 also brought along some new quality-of-life (QoL) improvements.

The new QoL features are as follows:

• Switching to ranged attack mode and back while locked on to an enemy, will now automatically lock on to the enemy again
• Option to always show the compass in the HUD

Recently, we got a chance to visit the developer SHIFT UP’s office and had an interview with CEO Hyung-Tae Kim and the development team, where we talked about the inspirations and design process of Stellar Blade as well as the future and reception of the game.