Stellar Blade releases on Friday, and the critical reception seems mostly positive so far. Director and Shift Up CEO Hyung-Tae Kim recently discussed the game’s inspirations, costume design, comparisons between Eve and Bayonetta, and more.
Stellar Blade director talks costumes
Kim discussed Stellar Blade’s costumes at length during a recent interview with Game Informer. He sees character design as his main strength and Eve’s costumes as a way to “show what I wanted to show.” It also allows players to experience Eve’s journey in their preferred style. He also went into detail about costume design and how hard developers worked on Eve’s outfits.
Preserving freedom of style is also why Shift Up deliberately chose to separate costumes from character upgrades. Otherwise, players would feel pressured to use the outfits with the best stats instead of the ones they like.
Interestingly, Stellar Blade was supposed to have some lore about Eve collecting clothing before the war with the Naytibas. Shift Up ultimately cut it from the game, but Kim still considers it canon.
Stellar Blade’s story and protagonist
Speaking of Stellar Blade’s protagonist, the interviewer also asked about Eve’s personality compared to a character like Bayonetta. The latter knows she’s very attractive and tries to take advantage of that in her fighting style. That isn’t the case with Eve, who’s less aware of her “charms,” as Kim put it. He isn’t necessarily against Eve evolving into a Bayonetta-like character over time. However, that will depend on what fans want, and the Stellar Blade director wasn’t ready to talk sequels yet.
Finally, Kim talked a little about the game’s narrative inspiration. While some have noted similarities between Stellar Blade and The Matrix, it’s more a case of both using concepts from Christianity. “The Matrix is, of course, one of the movies that I love, but then rather than any direct inspiration or references that we got from the movie, you should see the Bible as more of a source of those inspirations.”
However, while that inspired parts of the setting and plot, he doesn’t necessarily think players should read too much into it. “When people think, ‘Oh, this was based on the Bible,’ then they tend to take it more seriously and expect maybe a heavier, more serious story there. And, of course, we’re very thankful for that interpretation, but what we wanted to focus on was more the gameplay itself.”
