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Stellar Blade Endings and New Game Plus Guide: How to get every ending efficiently

by Josh Tolentino on 17 May, 2024

There's quite a bit more to Shift Up's fast-paced action RPG Stellar Blade than meets the eye at first. What initially seems to be a linear story-driven action game in the vein of NieR: Automata quickly unfolds to reveal a portions with a sprawling open-world structure, teeming with side quests, collectibles, and hidden challenges. That said, the story still follows a set path, with multiple endings you can earn based on how you play, culminating in a New Game Plus (or New Game+) mode that lets players explore different options, tackle new challenges, and earn new outfits for protagonist EVE. Keep on reading for our (somewhat) spoiler-light guide on how to earn every ending in Stellar Blade .

Spoiler Warning: While we've done our best to avoid spilling key plot details and moments from each ending, the fact that we're discussing the endings and how to earn them naturally means that this guide contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Stellar Blade! If you'd rather play the game completely cleanly, it's best to stop reading after our section on New Game Plus, then complete the game naturally, earning one of the endings. You can then refer back after you're done to see how to earn the rest of the endings.

What's In Stellar Blade's New Game Plus Mode?

Stellar Blade allows you to restart your game after earning any one of the three endings. You'll see it in the options after the conclusion. New Game Plus mode allows you to start the game as if you've begun a fresh run of the story, but you'll retain a number of things earned during the previous playthrough. Starting a New Game Plus run also unlocks an exclusive outfit, so there's no reason not to double-dip on the campaign once you're ready.

Here's what you keep when you start a New Game Plus run in Stellar Blade:

  • All of EVE's Gold at the end of the game
  • All of EVE's accumulated SP at the end of the game
  • All unlocked Nano Suits
  • All unlocked Exospines and Gear
  • All consumables such as healing items and combat items
  • All acquired Database entries (Books, MemorySticks, etc.)
  • EVE's current weapon level, rechargeable tumbler level, and omnibolt level
  • EVE's HP, Beta, and Burst energy levels

Here's what resets:

  • All main quest progress
  • All side quest and request progress

Here's what's new in a New Game Plus:

  • About 30 new Nano Suits are unlocked, and are mostly located in the same places as previous Nano Suits
  • EVE's level cap for weapon level, HP, Beta, and Burst energy is raised
  • Additional Drone Upgrades are unlocked
  • Additional Beta and Burst skill nodes can be unlocked with SP
     

Stellar Blade Endings, Briefly Explained

As mentioned in the introduction, Stellar Blade has three different endings for you to earn.

The two main endings are called:

  • Cost of Lost Memories
  • Return to the Colony

These endings are obtained based on the choice EVE makes just before the last boss fight. Just before the last boss fight, you'll be asked to take an NPC's hand. Choosing to take their hand leads to Cost of Lost Memories, while choosing not to take their hand leads to Return to the Colony. The boss fight and ending cutscenes that result from this choice varies significantly, so both endings are worth getting. They also unlock appropriate trophies.

The third ending is called Making New Memories, and it is a variant of Cost of Lost Memories.  It's a bit longer, and also includes a post-credits scene, seemingly cementing it as the "true" or "best" ending of Stellar Blade.

The trick to earning the Making New Memories ending, though, is that whether you get Cost of Lost Memories or Making New Memories will depend on your affinity with Lily, EVE's engineer companion. Lily has an easy-to-miss "reputation" gauge that pops up whenever you do one of the following activities:

  • Clear certain side quests and bulletin board requests
  • Pick up a Document, MemoryStick, or Hidden Can
  • Clear certain main story quests

You'll only see Lily's reputation meter pop up when you do something to raise it, so it can be hard to keep track of. The status of Lily's reputation bar determines the ending you get when choosing to take the NPC's hand at the end of the game.

  • If Lily's reputation bar is less than 100% full, you will earn Cost of Lost Memories when taking the NPC's hand.
  • If Lily's reputation bar is at 100%, you will earn Making New Memories when taking the NPC's hand.

You'll also gain another indicator that you've maxed out Lily's reputation bar during the game: You'll unlock Eidos 9, a special, "secret" stage visited just before heading off to the game's final stages. If your reputation is maxed out, Lily will automatically divert your course to Eidos 9, so there's no missing it once you've maxed out her reputation. If Lily's progress bar is below 100%, you'll go straight to Spire 4 and skip Eidos 9 entirely, ensuring that the ending you get by taking the NPC's hand is Cost of Lost Memories.

How To Earn All of Stellar Blade's Endings Efficiently

Given that two of Stellar Blade's three endings are obtainable as the result of a single binary choice, you might think that keeping a saved game from just before the moment of truth and reloading when convenient would be the most efficient choice. Unfortunately, by default, Stellar Blade employs just a single save file that autosaves regularly.

Normally, you'd need three playthroughs to unlock every ending: One where you max out Lily's reputation and take the NPC's hand, unlocking Making New Memories, one where you don't max out Lily's reputation and take the NPC's hand, unlocking Cost of Lost Memories, and one where you reject the NPC's hand, unlocking Return to the Colony.

You can cut that down to two playthroughs (a standard one and a New Game Plus run) by exploiting the PlayStation Network's cloud saving system.

Here's how to earn all three endings efficiently:

  • Play the game thoroughly on your first playthrough, picking up side quests and lore and maxing out Lily's reputation to unlock Eidos 9.
  • Continue playing until you pass the point of no return and visit the last Supply Camp in the game. Both EVE and Lily will remark on this point, but you can check out the screenshot below to see what the camp looks like.
  • Save the game at camp, then exit the game, and enter your PS5 Settings Menu, then the Storage Menu.
  • There, enter Saved Data, then PS5 Games, and then select Stellar Blade's latest save file to Upload to Cloud Storage.
  • Choosing a manual upload will disable the automatic save-syncing feature for Stellar Blade, preventing the game from overwriting the save file you sent up to PSN Cloud Storage.
  • Return to the game, and continue to the final boss fight. Choose not to take the NPC's hand, unlocking the Return to the Colony Ending.
  • When finished, download your saved game from the cloud and overwrite the latest save.
  • Upon reloading, you should be placed at the final save point.
  • From here, continue playing, then Take the NPC's Hand, unlocking the Making New Memories ending, since your reputation with Lily will be maxed out.
  • After the credits, begin a New Game Plus run.
  • From here, continue through the game, but play less thoroughly and ignore most of the side quests and lore pickups. The game should be considerably shorter if you just follow the main path.
  • Playing just the critical path should keep Lily's reputation under 100%.
  • Finishing the game again and taking the NPC's hand should unlock the Cost of Lost Memories ending and achievement, securing all three endings.