Hyung-Tae Kim, the Game Director of upcoming action-RPG Stellar Blade isn’t remorseful in the least when it comes to the game’s character designs — even the “special attention” put into the female lead Eve’s ahem, carefully crafted backside. Kim also figures that if players are going to be staring at something for the duration of their play time, it might as well be something that’s eye-pleasing.
“When it comes to the design, we put special attention on the back of the character because the player is always facing the back of the character when they’re playing,” Kim told GamesRadar. “That’s what they see the most of, so we thought this was pretty important.”
Kim also imparted that when designing games he wants to veer away from “normal” and wants to see someone “better-looking” than himself, as video games are a form of entertainment at the end of the day.
“Honestly, when I play a game, I would like to see someone who is better-looking than myself,” Kim added. “That’s what I want. I don’t want to see something normal; I want to see something more ideal. I think that is very important in a form of entertainment. This is, after all, entertainment targeted for adults.”
Lead character Eve’s considerable backside in Stellar Blade/Shift Up
Kim also believes that when it comes to this particular avenue of fan service, critics and fans alike are more critical when it comes to decisions like putting “special attention” into Stellar Blade‘s main character’s physique.
“I personally think that compared to movies, animations, manga and so on, people are especially strict towards games,” Kim continued. “In games, there’s all the views that people have [which are] not always positive about unrealistically beautiful characters.”
Notwithstanding, while Kim believes in striking character design, he also doesn’t think that such character design should overshadow the game itself. An ideal design in Kim’s mind is “someone that can show their own charms and attractiveness without damaging the narrative or the setting of the game.”
Stellar Blade isn’t the first game from developer Shift Up to feature fan service in its character designs. Before Stellar Blade, Shift Up developed gacha game Goddess of Victory: Nikke, which also didn’t shy away from accentuating certain elements of its characters’ anatomies.
Stellar Blade will be a Playstation 5 exclusive and is set to release on April 26th, 2024.
Do you agree with how the Stellar Blade dev defends the “special attention” put into female lead Eve’s backside? Let us know in the comments.
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