Stellar Blade’s Fashion Mean Nothing Without Personality

Stellar Blade isn’t a particularly original game, but it is a pretty good one. Developer Shift Up has created a sprawling solo adventure inspired by everything from Dark Souls to Devil May Cry, where you explore a dying world filled with all manner of grotesque monsters.

I’ve already written about how it fails to conjure up the magic of Nier: Automata that it’s clearly so damn desperate to recapture, but I’m still having a good time with it. The world is fun to explore, its combat is largely exceptional, and protagonist Eve is a soulless mannequin in urgent need of rizz. Luckily, Stellar Blade gives players the tools to change her appearance right away.

You start the game with the green outfit featured on the game’s cover and a long ponytail. It runs down the entirety of Eve’s body, helping shape her behind, which you’ll likely be staring at for most of the game anyway.

Aside from the standard green ensemble, you can start with a ‘skin suit’ which is basically a transparent version of the default skin that gives the illusion of Eve being naked. For being a shameless pervert the developers have made the game harder, giving this cosmetic weaker stats than the green alternative. I’m not sure if this is better or worse, since it brings attention to a piece of fan service that isn’t particularly attractive or well executed. At least not to me.

But what is well executed are some of the other outfits, and there are plenty of them. Soon after the first boss encounter, you will come across crafting blueprints for an orange take on Eve’s original outfit, and the offerings only get more varied from there. You can find several different suits with different colour schemes and designs, china dresses, miniskirts, bunny suits, swimsuits, and so much more. There are also options to change her hair and accessories if you feel so inclined, something I imagine plenty of players will want to indulge in.

None of these costumes are especially original, and most of them cater to fetishes I’d expect to see in bargain bin anime or a Dead or Alive season pass. You can make them much more tasteful by mixing and matching certain things, but the foundation always starts with Eve as a sex object to be ogled at first and foremost. I like boobs and butts as much as the next girl, but when Eve has such a bland personality, all of these outfits are for naught, regardless of how good they might look.

It’s like dressing up a doll that murders strange aliens amidst the post-apocalypse. A cool concept for a video game years ago, but it feels like we’ve matured beyond that. Well, we would have if Stellar Blade wasn’t being celebrated so much for it.

As I progress through Stellar Blade I’m reminded of how I often approach fashion in a game like Dark Souls or Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. In the former, ‘Fashion Souls’ wasn’t always intended by FromSoftware, and was merely a byproduct of players taking the different kinds of equipment and combining them in fun and unique ways. Bloodborne leaned into this way more, allowing characters to serve in all manner of gothic Victorian garb. Fallen Order might only have a selection of ponchos, vests, and colour switches, but it presented a personality we were able to build upon. Stellar Blade doesn’t have that, and suffers for it.

It once again brings me back to Stellar Blade’s desire to mimic Nier: Automata, which, aside from a few colour changes and objects you can equip, is committed to the design of its duo of main characters so much that they’ve become an unmistakable part of its identity. You aren’t given a chance to unearth that identity in Stellar Blade because it encourages you to cast it aside the second the first boss has fallen. Eve is a character you can craft to your own liking, but her appearance is ultimately as shallow as the personality the game fails to bestow upon her.