diff --git a/build_files/build_environment/cmake/download.cmake b/build_files/build_environment/cmake/download.cmake
index 165c002d3f97..21c88c836a27 100644
--- a/build_files/build_environment/cmake/download.cmake
+++ b/build_files/build_environment/cmake/download.cmake
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
 
 ## Update and uncomment this in the release branch
-# set(BLENDER_VERSION 3.1)
+set(BLENDER_VERSION 3.6)
 
 function(download_source dep)
   set(TARGET_FILE ${${dep}_FILE})
diff --git a/release/datafiles/splash.png b/release/datafiles/splash.png
index eb1250cf5a53..429af974da17 100644
Binary files a/release/datafiles/splash.png and b/release/datafiles/splash.png differ
diff --git a/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_blender_version.h b/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_blender_version.h
index 9eebeae86c66..cb35d8bfaebd 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_blender_version.h
+++ b/source/blender/blenkernel/BKE_blender_version.h
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ extern "C" {
 /* Blender patch version for bugfix releases. */
 #define BLENDER_VERSION_PATCH 0
 /** Blender release cycle stage: alpha/beta/rc/release. */
-#define BLENDER_VERSION_CYCLE alpha
+#define BLENDER_VERSION_CYCLE beta
 
 /* Blender file format version. */
 #define BLENDER_FILE_VERSION BLENDER_VERSION