This year's Summer Game Fest showcase saw the reveal of Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, the next game from Shift Up – one that strives to make its protagonist more than just eye candy, according to director and studio CEO Hyung-Tae Kim.
If you're out of the loop – although I doubt anyone is, considering the storm surrounding her appearance – Eve, protagonist of the original Stellar Blade, was well known for her… erm, assets. Outside of her appearance, though, many fans found that her depth was lacking as a character.
In Blood Rain, Shift Up hopes to shake things up a bit with new lead Evie. She might be pretty, much like her predecessor, but there should be a bit more to her.
As Kim explains in an interview with Famitsu (as translated by Automaton), "Of course, I really like Eve's appearance too, but rather than simply creating physical attractiveness, with Evie, we're focused on making a character that players can genuinely come to love."
That's certainly notable, considering the chatter about how Stellar Blade might've improved upon Eve's character – but what makes this even more interesting is Shift Up's approach with Evie.
According to Kim, the studio is using lessons it learned from interacting with the Goddess of Victory: Nikke community and witnessing just why its fans were so attached to their favorite characters.
That's, um, perhaps a bit mind-boggling to me, seeing as that's another Shift Up game known most for its female characters and – sigh – butt-jiggling physics. But, it is fair to say that Nikke thrives on player attachment to and engagement with the cast as a gacha title.
So, I suppose it does make a little bit of sense – Shift Up wants folks to love Evie for more than just her looks so that they might be better invested in her, and in turn, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. We'll just have to wait and see how that goes.
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