At PlayStations State of Play last week, we got a bit of a deep dive into Stellar Blade, showing off what we can expect from the game when it releases in April.
Just days after, the CEO, Kim Hyun Tae, of Shift Up attended an interview with Famitsu, giving us even more detail about the sword-slashing, costume-donning angel Eve and what shaped the game overall.
During the interview, Kim Hyn Tae explained how Nier: Automata and God of War heavily influenced the game. The sense of feeling like one is in an open-world game while still maintaining linear gameplay is what Hyun Tae is mainly referring to here. When questioned later on about the gameplay flow, Hyun Tae explained further how some aspects of the story will feel very linear while others will feel more open-world. Combining these two into a seamless zero-stage experience is what the team at Shift Up are after.
As well as Nier: Automate and God of War, Jedi: Survivor and Shekiro: Shadows Die Twice were also influences to the game, but more so on the combat side of things.
Hyun Tae explained how they initially wanted to create “everything a female character could do while also wielding a sword”. This, of course, leads to fast and flashy combat with stylish combos and awesome finishers. The challenge here would be creating combat that doesn’t feel one-sided. This is where the souls-like combat from Jedi: Survivor and Shekiro comes into play. In these games, the battles feel more strategic than just running in sword first. Players must fight strategically, combining parries, dodging, and clever fighting.
Of course, we’re all curious about why Eve is, well, Eve—the stunning, stylish, futuristic battle babe.
Hyun Tae explained how we wanted to show an evolution of his design style while still maintaining a connection to the world they have created in Stellar Blade. Shift Up is also the development team for Goddess of Victory: Nikke, where futuristic yet stylish battle babes are one of the main pulls of the game. We can see the similarities between the two games there, as the team has also included over 20 different costumes for Eve to dress in, which will not affect gameplay but will be in-game collectables that show off Eve’s charm.
Here at NAG, we’re very excited to swing our swords in style and can’t wait for the 26th of April when the game officially launches as a PlayStation exclusive.