Stellar Blade's Festive Holiday Update: A Cozy Christmas in Xion

Stellar Blade is decking the halls (and Xion!) for the holidays with a new event launching December 17th. This update brings festive cheer with new outfits, decorations, a mini-game, and player-controlled seasonal content.

New Holiday Attire for Eve and Friends

Get into the holiday spirit with brand-new Christmas-themed costumes! Eve gets a Santa dress, Adam a "I'm No Santa" outfit, and the drone sports a Rudolph pack. Complete Eve's look with a Santa Girl hairstyle and accessories like Snow Crystal Glasses, Wreath Earrings, and Sleigh Ear Cuffs.

A Festive Xion and a Holiday Mini-Game

Xion transforms into a winter wonderland, adorned with festive red, green, and white decorations. The Last Gulp and Eve's camp get a holiday makeover, complete with new seasonal background music ("Dawn (Winter)" and "Take me away"). A new mini-game adds to the fun; details are scarce, but shooting a holiday-themed drone appears to yield special rewards.

Control Your Holiday Experience

This update introduces the ability to enable or disable seasonal content, including the Nier:Automata DLC, in the game's settings under "Gameplay" -> "Seasonal Event Content." Options include "Auto" (automatic seasonal content toggling), "Disable" (always off), and "Enable" (always on). Note that changing this setting requires a game restart.

Mixed Reactions from Fans

While many fans are delighted with the update (with creative nicknames like "Christmas Eve" for the protagonist), some express concerns about the frequency of event updates, especially given Stellar Blade's single-player nature and relatively short playtime (around 30 hours). The need to restart the game to fully experience the seasonal content is a point of contention for some players.

The short playtime means players quickly reach the end of the main story, leaving some feeling the frequent updates are less impactful. This contrasts with games featuring multiplayer or highly replayable elements where seasonal content adds more longevity. For more on Stellar Blade, check out our dedicated article!