A developer of Stellar Bladea game featuring a heroine in seductive outfits, attempted to justify the sexy dimension of the game. It’s entertainment aimed at an adult audience. “, he says.
During Sony’s latest State of Play presentation, we were able to discover a long trailer for Stellar Blade. And there is something striking when you look closely at the images of this aesthetically successful action game: the heroine is ultra-sexy. In less than 6 minutes, we see her wearing outfits, each more improbable than the last. The message is clear: the shorter, the more skin visible, the better. However, we are talking about a character responsible for getting rid of an enemy threat in a post-apocalyptic context.
Leggings so close to the body that it feels like a second skin, plunging neckline (and revealing a generous chest), costume reminiscent of a nightie, schoolgirl uniform (the cliché of Asian fantasy), stiletto heels… All with angles camera and animations which emphasize the perfect silhouette of Eve, heroine of Stellar Blade. It is difficult not to see a sexualization of women, a practice which tended to disappear in the latest video game productions. However, this choice is 100% assumed by the developer, with arguments that are beyond belief.
With Stellar Blade, the Shift Up studio shows off its fantasies
Questioned by GamesRadar+ in an interview relayed on February 8, 2024, Hyung-Tae Kim, director of Stellar Blade, attempted to justify the project’s irredeemably sexy argument. Starting with this permanent highlighting of Eve’s buttocks: “ In terms of design, we focused on the back of the character because players are always facing him when playing. That’s what they see the most, so it’s very important. » We didn’t know that a character’s charisma is first measured by the perfection of their posterior. This recalls Hideo Kojima’s lunar apology for Quiet in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Hyung-Tae Kim continues and digs in: “ Honestly, when I play a game, I want to see someone who is way prettier than me. I don’t want to see someone normal, I want to see an ideal. I think it’s important for entertainment. And, after all, it is entertainment aimed at an adult audience. » If we follow this reasoning, his ideal therefore seems to resemble a pornographic actress with the face of an angel, an image with which it is difficult to identify and which conveys old sexist overtones. The problem isn’t really the decision to go for an attractive character, but to turn him into a sort of doll that you can dress up at will in outfits that make no sense from one point of view. narrative
Despite undoubtedly appreciable video game qualities (we’ll wait to play it), Stellar Blade is in the process of sweeping away a questioning orchestrated in recent years – which we had notably seen in the evolution of Lara Croft, an ex-sex symbol who returned to a more “normal” physique.
Hyung-Tae Kim still tries to make us believe that there is a “ woman with a heart and a personality » behind all these physical attributes constantly highlighted. “ She will interact with more and more characters, and become more and more human. At first, she is just a simple soldier and doesn’t show much emotion. The more the story progresses, the more you will see changes at this level “, he says.
Should we be surprised by this direction chosen by Shift Up? No, if we look at the studio’s previous game. Baptized Goddess of Victory: Nikkeit already features hyper-sexualized female characters, with the same defects as Stellar Blade. On arrival, it’s difficult to see anything other than a nest of fantasies cringe.
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