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Naive optimism clashes with tried-and-true pessimism within me as Hyung-Tae Kim, head of Stellar Blade developer Shift Up and now chief of newly revealed sequel Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, reckons well-written characters might be interesting after all.
Speaking with Inven Global (the English-translated branch of the Korean outlet), Kim admits, "When making the first game, I struggled with the [main] character Eve – specifically, whether to leave the character as a blank slate for player empathy or to fill her with personality."
The result of this struggle was, evidently, the Eve who I struggle to even recall: a dull, wooden, empty character who felt like a consequence of the story rather than someone propelling it. All of this Stuff Happening needed somebody at the center, but that somebody had no observable motivations or morals of their own, leaving Eve bland and forgettable. This was a big reason Stellar Blade's story felt so rudderless, and for my money it's the main area for improvement in a sequel. It's encouraging, then, to hear Kim commit to a character with character this time.
"Seeing the reactions of players who finished the first game, I realized that players can fully immerse themselves even in a character with a strong, distinct personality," he says. "So, this time, we are designing EVE to have an even more defined character." (I've kept the original quote for clarity, but I believe Kim is referring to Evie, the star of Blood Rain, here.)
I'll reserve any judgment until we actually see Evie act like a person, and this assessment does kind of read like a man claiming he only just heard that ice is cold, but do I think the intent is a good sign because intent was a recurring problem with Stellar Blade. Kim touches on one major design conflict himself: the "blank slate" protagonist works as a vessel for the player's will, but you don't make any decisions of consequence as Eve, and since she doesn't have a strong will of her own either, the whole thing falls flat.
Additionally, Eve being an undefined void of personality perhaps made it easier to inflict ill-fitting outfits upon her (further muddying any semblance of who she is or what she wants), and the game not knowing what to do with her definitely worsened its wobbling tone. After Stellar Blade's missteps, Blood Rain could either minimize storytelling and let the strong combat and music do more of the talking, or it could serve up a story that's actually worth the time. If Shift Up is going to go for the latter, a "defined" protagonist is probably the best place to start.
