Stellar Bladehas been a massive breakout hit for developer Shift Up, taking them from a fairly well-known mobile developer to arguably one of the big players on the console stage. Everyone who enjoyed Stellar Blade islooking forward to whatever the studio is cooking up next, and Stellar Blade itself continues to perform,having recently had a massive launch on PC.
I can think of a few reasons why Stellar Blade is so popular among gamers - two rather large ones in particular - but ex-PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida reckons the game’s success is all down to its combat.In an interview with Japanese outlet GameWatch(translated by Automaton), Yoshida revealed that he believed Stellar Blade’s combat was so fun that he offered Shift Up a publishing deal.
Yoshida goes on to explain that he believes the difficult but rewarding nature of Stellar Blade’s combat is why it resonated with so many people, calling it the game’s biggest achievement. That’s certainly true, as Stellar Blade’s combat is pretty stylish and the game has a handful of great boss fights, but I feel like Yoshida is perhaps not seeing the elephant in the room.
Let’s Be Real, We All Know The Actual Reason
Stellar Blade has a well-earned reputation for being just a tad raunchy, as you can have Eve run around in outfits that more closely resemble stripes of cloth than actual clothing.Shift Up itself has leaned into that aspect of the game with no shame, and the raunchiness of Stellar Blade has undoubtedly given it more attention than it otherwise may have had. Put a less jiggly character in Stellar Blade, you probably don’t see the same level of popularity.
Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, apart from the fact that it’s probably not a game you want your mother to catch you playing, especially on PC. It took just 72 hours after Stellar Blade’s demo releaseto see Nexus Mods flooded with raunchy creations, and I think that’s as good an indicator as any as to where Stellar Blade’s strengths lie.
