It's been barely 3 days since the latest PS5 exclusive made its debut. Stellar Blade is currently enjoying fairly consistent critical success with ratings between 8 and 10 out of 10. But the game doesn't please everyone. Indeed, a petition has been circulating since its first hours of existence and it has just collected its 40,000th signature. The object of the discontent? The protagonist's overly dressy outfits.
Eve is a fighter who has come to settle the score with the horrible aliens called the naytibas. Since the reveal of its first images, players know that the main character will be a woman, very undressed and with a "traditional" look, shall we say. But in addition to the debates on the potential misogyny on the sexualization of the character, it is rather the purists and conservatives who have made their voices heard this weekend. A petition asking the studio to show more breasts and buttocks has already collected thousands of signatures and continues to climb.
Censorship or moderation?
They claim that the studio would have censored the game between the demo and its final release, even though he had previously stated that this would not be the case. As evidence, the signatories state that two outfits are specifically targeted by the complaints: Cybernetic Bondage and Holiday Rabbit. Both costumes have had slight modifications between the demo and the day one patch. From one update to the next, Eve gets a headband that covers her chest a little more, as well as a less pronounced cutout on her hips.
Simple modifications that have awakened the anger of 40,000 people. Some see it as censorship, while others with more extreme views say it is a form of anti-Asian racism. The sexualization of women in video games is not new, and is generally more accepted for Asian works, as it is part of their visual culture... which explains the link to possible racism.
What if we looked at something other than the chest?
It turns out that after Shift Up's revelation, the “censored” outfit was actually the one the developers intended and that the lighter outfit was part of the previous versions of the game, the ones that weren't supposed to make it to the end of the development process. Still, the players' grumbling is causing more noise than harm. Whether we like it or not, we have to admit that Shift Up's work on animations and identity The visual aspect of the game is colossal. You may not like the atmosphere, but Stellar Blade remains a convincing proposition in terms of gameplay.
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