Stellar Blade Is Challenging Conventional Beauty Standards In Video Games

Stellar Blade’s reveal trailers and promotional material have led to a controversial discussion regarding Eve’s character design. The community has forgotten that female character design in video games has mostly been based on real-life models. Stellar Blade isn’t even the first title to have an overly exaggerated female lead, and there have been multiple such protagonists before, too, in extremely famous video games.

When it comes to character design, how do you value/prioritize looks?🚀

✅Looks matter
✅Looks don’t matter

Let’s go!😎

(Note: I think both characters look good. I’m only using them for reference based on recent debates about their design) #PlayStation #PS5 #Gaming pic.twitter.com/lX8LFVavgF

— Rino (@RinoTheBouncer) March 30, 2024

The Controversy Surrounding Stellar Blade

The creator of Stellar Blade has received a lot of hate for creating Eve since many believe that her design is overly exaggerated and not based on an actual real female. Even game journalism sites like IGN France have bashed the creator and insulted him in their articles.

This hate is generated by the fact there is a huge divide among Western and Eastern video game cultures.

So @IGN calls Stellar Blade protagonist a sexualized “doll” and says the creator “has never seen a living woman.”

The not real “doll”:

The creator’s wife and team artist: pic.twitter.com/IPgDbwmdgR

— Grummz (@Grummz) March 30, 2024

As for the character design of Eve, it is in fact based on a real woman. An actual female model was scanned by the developers at Shift Up and that was used to create Eve in the game. Just because her design is exaggerated doesn’t mean that it is not real. Women with different kinds of body proportions can exist, and we cannot just bash a certain studio for choosing a more busty design over the Westernized approach.

Stellar Blade gameplay is 🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/P01cFXbfYn

— Pyo 5️⃣ (@mrpyo1) March 29, 2024

People have been so busy hating the female character designs in this game that they have completely overlooked the other aspects of Stellar Blade, including story, gameplay, and visuals. I have played through the demo, and I can say with confidence that Stellar Blade is going to be one of the best games released in 2024. It has such a satisfying combat system that pairs hack and slash with the Soulslike formula.

The story itself seems really interesting, and the game is also very well-optimized for the PS5. Clearly, the developers have put a lot of effort into creating this game, and the community should not ignore it based on some agendas. Even the rumors regarding Eve’s body model are untrue, and her design is completely based on a real-life female human.

The Impact Of Bayonetta And 2B

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen a hot female lead in a video game with exaggerated proportions. The Bayonetta Series and Nier Automata have done this way before, and both of these titles have had a remarkable influence on the gaming industry. Both Bayonetta and 2B have actually become iconic in the gaming community solely based on their designs.

You fear the holy trinity. https://t.co/FheF4SJND8 pic.twitter.com/kgyloxsRwK

— DOA Momiji (@momiji_doa) April 2, 2024

The above-mentioned games didn’t even receive a lot of hate for their female character designs, so why is Stellar Blade getting targeted? Well, the answer to that question lies in the fact that the West simply refuses to believe that attractive females can exist in video games when they have been doing so for a very long time. Hating a game based on how females look is nothing but an agenda and should be not used for critical analysis.

Comment
byu/Nawara_Ven from discussion
innier

The developers didn’t just create Bayonetta and 2B to appeal to the male fantasy. Both of these characters are amazingly well-written and are part of franchises that provide some of the best gameplay in video games. These characters didn’t get famous for their looks; instead, it took an amazing game for them to acquire this stature.

Similarly, Stellar Blade and all the games released in the future need to be judged on the same playing field and not just the design of their female characters.

Western Vs Eastern Game Development

The difference between how Western and Eastern game developers approach female characters is the actual reason behind the huge debate regarding female character designs. Western game devs usually take a more traditional approach and create basic female characters, which are called out for being either ugly or unappealing. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/saltierthankrayt/comments/1aobjre/western_woman_ugly_eastern_women_pretty/

On the other hand, the Japanese game devs try to exaggerate body proportions, which are still based on actual models, and these are called out for being unreal or appealing to the male fantasy. Both sides continue to fight to this day, and the ones that suffer are the games and the developers who created this art.

I can't unsee this pic.twitter.com/X7JcHj3id3

— Anti (@CEOofAnti) March 30, 2024

Compare the design of Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Abby/Aloy from The Last of Us Part 2/Horizon Forbidden West, and you’ll understand how vastly different female character design can get. We really need to stop fighting over what looks good and what doesn’t.

People need to accept that different types of females exist and that developers can make vastly different female designs in their video games. We should not discredit one type of design and try to validate other types just to push some agendas.