Stellar Blade - When and where is the point of no return?

Most story-driven single-player games tend to have a “point of no return,” when a player is locked out of all sorts of content, before advancing full speed to the game’s ending. Well, Stellar Blade has 2, and because after you’ve defeated the final boss and seen the credits, you don’t get thrown back into the open-world, paying attention to when they crop up is vitally important, especially if you don’t want to miss any content on your first playthrough.

So, let’s talk through the 2 points of no return, when they occur, and what you get locked out of.

Point of Return #1

The first point of no return occurs after you’ve completed “Abyss Levoire,” and returned to Orcal with another Hyper Cell, kicking off the short main quest, “Orcal’s Testimony.” It’s at this point in the story that you’ll then have to head to Spire 4, to use the Orbit Elevator.

The actual objective will be, “Talk to Adam at the Safehouse and go to the Orbit Elevator.” When this is the case, you’ve reached the first point of no return. Departing to Spire 4 with Adam and co. will lock you out of the following for the rest of your playthrough:

• All side quests
• All Xion collectibles
• All Xion Requests

And finally, if you’ve not maxed Lily’s affinity bar by the point you’ve left for Spire 4, you’ll also be locked out of Eidos 9 too. If you want to know what moves Lily’s affinity bar, and how to guarantee a trip to Eidos 9, then check out our “How to get to Eidos 9: What Raises Lily’s Affinity Level?” guide.

Everything else, like returning to other regions, getting Nano Suits and other collectibles, and so on, can be returned to after you’ve come back from Spire 4. You can even continue completing non-Xion-related Requests, as you can use the Bulletin Board in the Wasteland.

It should also be noted that provided you’ve done the relevant quests in Xion, you’ll still be able to use the shops in town after too, though, namely Lyle, Roxanne, D1g-g2r, Kasim and Kaya. You must have done all their related side quests, though, so bear that in mind. Those side quests are as follows:

• Kaya - Complete “The Scavenger’s Story” and “Encounter.”
• Kasim - Complete “First Customer.”
• D1g-g2r - Complete “Plan to Clean Earth” and “CnL Communicate and Link.”
• Lyle - Complete “Stolen Treasure.”
• Roxanne - Complete “An Offer You Can’t Refuse.”

Completing those side quests will guarantee access to their specific shops in Xion before the home straight.

 

Point of Return #2

Now, the second point of return is basically the last time to do anything, and will occur during the main quest, “Burning Xion.” As we said in the intro, Stellar Blade doesn’t throw you back into the open-world after you’ve beaten the game, and the “Continue” option will load you in after the point of no return, so now is the time to do everything else you want to before heading out to take down the Elder Naytiba.

Luckily, at this point you can still return to every single region (except for Xion) and grab all of Stellar Blade’s collectibles that you wish to grab.

Then, when you’re ready to make the jump to fight the Elder Naytiba - and perhaps push onto New Game Plus, which has a load of New Game Plus Nano Suits to collect too - speak to Lily and select “Follow the bike signal and leave.”

Once you do, you’re on the home straight, and are two boss fights away from one of the game’s ending! Congrats!