Stellar Blade
Stellar Blade has been at the center of a culture war practically since it was announced, with one side heralding it as the pinnacle of “non-woke” game design featuring a scantily clad female lead, contrasted with others in the industry questioning her design.
But now that the game is released, well-liked by players and well-received by critics, the same group is now saying that in some instances, Stellar Blade’s lead is still not scantily clad enough. Namely, they are accusing developer SHIFT UP of censoring certain aspects of the game, including specific costumes, and some are blaming PlayStation.
This is all pretty bizarre, but here’s the breakdown of what’s going on:
- A couple of the game’s dozens of outfits for Eve were seemingly changed in minor ways from the patch-free disc version of the game to final release. This was not the version reviewers had, as that was already patched once, but if you forgo all patches, these old costumes can be seen on the disc.
- There is one main costume in question, a bunny-style swimsuit which added a tiny bit of lace on the chest and a small amount of coverage in the hips. Another costume had a bit of netting added to the chest area. A couple more may or may not have barely visible differences, but these are the main ones repeatedly brought up.
- From the outside perspective it’s odd players could perseverate on this to such a degree given that those outfits are still enormously revealing and there are a dozen or two other outfits just as revealing, if not more so, in the same regions where those costumes were “censored.” But the counter-claim is that any amount of changes like this should be considered censorship and should be protested vehemently.
- SHIFT UP was asked about this directly at one point. They say outright the “final costume we wanted to show you” was the one that is seen in the patch, leading many people to point out that this was simply the developer’s vision for those outfits, rather than someone pressuring them to change it. There is also no hard evidence Sony had demanded these tiny changes.
- One cited issue is that SHIFT UP previously advertised that Stellar Blade would be released “uncensored” in all regions, though that was mainly a statement about them dealing with Japan’s often-conservative ratings board, that they didn’t have to cut anything for them or other regions. But now players are lumping these small costume changes into the “censorship” idea, and accusing the game of falsely advertising itself.
- There is an additional complaint that gore has been censored in the final game, but that does not appear to have actually happened, with play settings, performance/quality, being responsible for different textures appearing or not appearing. The game is still plenty gory.
The argument comes down to the idea that this is talking about a couple of inches of fabric on a couple of outfits in a game full of even more revealing outfits that weren’t changed. There’s no evidence this was “forced” and the developer has declared it was what they wanted as the final draft. But now the same crowd that championed the game is protesting against it, claiming censorship, no matter how minor or insignificant, as a matter of principle. Those outside this small circle are sort of just shaking their heads and unable to believe people are seriously upset about this.
It is not out of the realm of possibility that SHIFT UP will change these outfits back, and I honestly think they might, however goofy it may seem. This is easily one of the most provocatively designed characters this genre has ever seen, and it feels like there’s just no winning with this specific group, always looking for some new dragon to slay. If they get a piece of lace or two removed from costumes, will they be happy? That remains unclear, but it seems doubtful.
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