Stellar Blade Dev Explains New Hero Design, Praises Sony's Publishing Support - Push Square

In the aftermath of Stellar Blade: Blood Rain’s reveal this week, Shift Up boss Hyung-Tae Kim has been chatting with Korean media about the game. Among the most interesting quotes, he discussed the design of new heroine Evie, who’s replacing established character Eve. (Although I suspect the latter will still appear in the game.) In order to help make the close-quarters melee-based combat pop, Kim says the team intentionally designed Evie to be shorter and younger-looking. “We worked to ensure that she fights in a very tough manner and gives off a cool and stylish vibe,” he said. In the west, there’s been a bit of controversy about whether Evie looks a little too young – especially set against the context of the original Stellar Blade’s sexualised character design. But in this instance, it sounds like Shift Up believes the petite character model contrasts nicely with her aggressive combat style. It’ll be interesting to see how the design evolves over the course of game’s development, because the original Eve did also go through several revisions before release. Whatever the case, Shift Up has been clear it’ll be self-publishing this project, and it’s aiming to reach as many platforms as possible. Kim praised Sony’s publishing support in the interview, but admitted it can be more nimble and agile if it self-publishes the game. The original Stellar Blade sold particularly well in countries like China on the PC, so it’s clear it wants to better address that market. Throughout the interview, Kim repeatedly says the game has only been in development for a year, and while it’s clear work is progressing well, it’s probably not coming out any time soon. That’s probably for the best, because fans have discovered several examples of generative AI in the game’s launch assets, which I’m personally hopeful will be completely replaced come release.