Stellar Blade arrives today exclusively on PlayStation 5, although it does not do so without controversy. The new thing from the South Korean studio Shift Up is an action adventure that combines elements of games like NieR: Automata and From Software titles. It's kind of a mix of Hack and Slash and Soulslike. So far so good, but then where does the controversy come from?
Eve, the protagonist of Stellar Blade, is highly sexualized. Here is the center of the discussion. There are those who say that she is too sexualized – Eve and all the female characters in the game –, there are those who don't care about her and there are those who say that this is how all games should be. Looking at the promotional materials it is easy to understand the reason for the criticism. But, beyond the controversy, Stellar Blade is a good game.
When I started preparing this article, PlayStation offered me an interview with content creator Fran García (iLuTV on YouTube). On his channel he usually talks about manga and anime – mainly Japanese –, although in his publishing house Kibook they have begun to work with Korean works. During our video call conversation we talked about the controversy with Eve, but Fran tried to put the emphasis on other elements of the game:
– What catches your attention about Stellar Blade?
– I am interested because it mixes many different things from many things that I love.
– Can you give me an example?
– In the first hours there are many parrys and I love it, I am a big fan of Sekiro.
Stellar Blade is not a bad game, in fact, it is a pretty decent game, as evidenced by its Metacritic score of 82. I wouldn't put it on my list of best titles of the year, but I would understand if a lot of people did. The action is frenetic, but it is well measured. Its universe is interesting and offers just the right challenge to motivate the most hardcore players without throwing out the most casual ones (in addition, you can choose the level of difficulty).
The controversy clouds a launch campaign that, otherwise, is very normal. Thousands of comments have been made on social networks about Eve, about the physique of her breasts and about whether video game companies “no longer know how to design attractive women,” as many incels claim. A discussion that is not new and that we already had with the redesign of Lara Croft in 2013 or with Horizon: Forbidden West in 2022.
“We ask our teams in the United States and Europe to read the game scripts and tell us if there is something that is not acceptable in their countries,” says Masayoshi Yokoyama in an article in The Japan Times. Yokoyama is the executive producer of the Yakuza franchise, developed by Japanese studio Ryu Ga Gotoko Studio.
It is not the first time that controversy surrounds an Asian video game and many studios are taking action on the matter to make their works well received around the world. This comment by Masayoshi Yokoyama is just a small example. Although this trend does not affect all companies and all countries equally. In the face of criticism, what the studio responsible for Stellar Blade, Shift Up, has done is defend its creative freedom and the design of its characters.
At the end of March, the first impressions of Stellar Blade were published and the specialized media IGN France focused its text on criticizing the excessive sexualization of Eve. I was going to say something like “Eve is a doll sexualized by someone who has never seen a woman.” Shift Up branded the article as discriminatory and IGN's central headquarters apologized publicly and forced IGN France to modify the original text.
– What do you think of the controversy with Stellar Blade?
– From Europe we cannot demand that Korea make such a big leap in terms of equality – says Sonia Dueñas, doctor in Media Research and specialist in South Korean cinema and cultural industries.
- And what can we do?
– The fact that the protagonist is a woman already represents a certain change in Korea.
In mid-2015, South Korean feminist groups organized online to fight machismo and misogyny on the Internet. Its main strategy was based on copying sexist publications, but reversing the genres, with the aim of highlighting the misogyny present in all of them. The movement grew and adopted as its logo the drawing of a hand with the index fingers and thumb in the shape of the letter C (a kind of joke about small penises).
Megalian was dissolved in 2017 and several spin-offs emerged. Some of them are still operational, just as the trauma suffered by the men targeted by the criticism also endures. The Megalian logo has become almost a conspiracy theory in South Korea. Video game companies prevent characters from drawing a letter C with their hands in their promotional content, as this could indicate that there are feminists in the company and could lead to a call for a boycott.
Being a feminist in South Korea is not easy and Megalian is just a small example, but it helps to understand why Shift Up staunchly defends the design of its characters and calls any criticism that comes from the West a discrimination.
– In South Korea there is a standard of beauty that is practically a requirement – says Sonia, while we talk about the protagonist of Stellar Blade. – Although everything is changing little by little, especially due to the demands of the global public.
– Should Korean or Japanese authors make changes to their works so that we in Europe feel more comfortable?
– Creative freedom is a complicated element – Sonia continues – furthermore, beyond the controversy, Stellar Blade is an interesting game from which many cool details can be drawn: did you know that Jang Hee-cheol participated in the design of the monsters? , the creator of the monster from The Host?
Stellar Blade arrives today exclusively on PlayStation 5.
