Stellar Blade studio head says outfit redesigns were intentional, not censorship: “Just because the costumes are vulgar doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good”
It’s called fashion, sweetie, look it up
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Kim Hyeong-tae, CEO of Stellar Blade developer Shift Up, has dispelled censorship allegations regarding protagonist Eve’s clothing.
The costume redesigns that altered a handful of the heroine’s original outfits, as seen in promotional materials, are a result of a day-one patch that had always been intended as the “final result”, according to Kim (viaGameAbout).
Some Stellar Blade fans had taken these visual changes as evidence of publisherSonywanting to censor Shift Up’s original design by stifling its creativity, sparking online debate surroundingEve’s “stupidly sexy” attire and how it impacts the player’s experience of the action game.
It turns out that, nope: this is the work of the developer itself, and had nothing to do with Sony.
But whether you love or loathe Eve’sNSFW skin suit, Kim stresses that Shift Up didn’t remove that extra hint of cleavage here or add tights there in an attempt to deprive gamers of anything, but to provide stylish finishing touches to each ensemble.
“I don’t think that just because the costumes are vulgar doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good, so this is something that was modified for quality,” he says. “As a result, there are parts where eroticism is lessened or emphasized. This is the final product that we want to show as the intended result.” In short: Eve’s outfits are fashion-first, not sexy-first.
Eve’s sartorial choices weren’t the only changes that came with theStellar Blade day-one patch, with the addition of New Game+ giving players an incentive to stick around long after the credits roll.
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Stellar Blade is available now as a PS5 exclusive, but check out the otherupcoming PS5 gameswe have our eye on.
Jasmine is a staff writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London in 2017, her passion for entertainment writing has taken her from reviewing underground concerts to blogging about the intersection between horror movies and browser games. Having made the career jump from TV broadcast operations to video games journalism during the pandemic, she cut her teeth as a freelance writer with TheGamer, Gamezo, and Tech Radar Gaming before accepting a full-time role here at GamesRadar. Whether Jasmine is researching the latest in gaming litigation for a news piece, writing how-to guides for The Sims 4, or extolling the necessity of a Resident Evil: CODE Veronica remake, you’ll probably find her listening to metalcore at the same time.
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