The PS5 will receive a new exclusive on April 26, 2024. Stellar Blade is an action-adventure that is said to have Soulslike elements. Instead of discussing the gameplay, however, many are talking about the protagonist Eve.
What is the discussion about Stellar Blade? The upcoming PS5 exclusive from the Korean studio Shift Up focuses on action and a beautiful protagonist. The body of heroine Eve is based on a 3D scan of the Korean model Shin Jae-eun. Although Stellar Blade has not yet been released on the PS5, it has been discussed for months:
- The protagonist Eve in Stellar Blade is seen by some as a contrast to a trend in Western game studios to portray female characters more realistically.
- Some gamers feel that heroines in Western games are no longer as feminine or attractive as they used to be. They believe the Korean studio made the right design decision.
- However, critics see Stellar Blade as a possible regression in terms of unrealistic beauty ideals and the sexualization of female game characters – for example, with a skin-tight, nude-colored bodysuit.
Criticism of Eve in the West as a “bland doll” that does not represent a real woman
What is the big topic right now? When the Shift Up team released a demo of Stellar Blade over the Easter holidays, many could get a sense of the game. The gameplay is said to be pretty solid despite all the discussions: Some previews describe it as a mix of the Soulslike Sekiro and the NieR games from Square Enix.
A preview from the gaming site IGN France praised the combat, exploration, and atmosphere in the demo: The combat system is described as “an explosive cocktail with incredible results.” The only criticism is for the character design:
- Eve lacks the iconic style of characters like Bayonetta or 2B from Nier; she is bland.
- The model on which the character is based is lost under layers of changes; her body is no longer recognizable.
- The author finally refers to Eve as “a doll being sexualized by someone who has never seen a real woman.”
This last section was understood by some as “the creator of Stellar Blade has probably never seen a real woman.”
Can a character be unrealistic if it is based on a real woman?
Here’s how the controversy escalated: Former Blizzard employee Mark “Grummz” Kern posted a snippet of the article with a photo of the Korean model as well as the wife of the studio head, probably to refute the article’s alleged theses (via X). The clear message of the tweet:
The creators of Stellar Blade have seen a “real woman” before. Here they are.
IGN France removed the section from the article and apologized: They did not intend to offend anyone at Shift Up or their work.
The discussion made its way back to South Korea. The Korean version of Maxim magazine released a segment on YouTube discussing what constitutes a realistic body. They raised the question of whether a character that is based on a real person can be labeled unrealistic.
The answer to this is, for MeinMMO author Lydia, actually obvious: While the body of a model may be real, it can simultaneously set an unrealistic standard for other women who do not earn their living based on their appearance. Thus, the discussion should actually be over.
What do you think? Have you heard anything about the discussions surrounding Stellar Blade? Do you still want to play the game, or maybe even because of this? Have you perhaps already checked out the demo to form your own opinion? Let us know in the comments.
A similarly large discussion about the appearance of a female game character occurred in 2021 with Horizon Forbidden West: She was “not feminine enough” for some gamers.
