The newly released game Stellar Blade has sparked a heated debate among gamers who fear censorship following the day one patch. Developed by ShiftUp and published by Sony, the game had previously promised an uncensored global release. This focused in particular on adult themes, including character designs and violence.
After the release of Stellar Blade, players quickly noticed changes to the main character Eve, particularly her outfits. The Day One patch changed several costumes, including a bunny outfit that now covers more of Eve’s chest area. Other outfits have also been slightly altered, which some players see as censorship. Critics of the game are therefore calling for these changes to be reversed under the hashtag FreeStellarBlade. There is now even a petition calling for an uncensored version.
The changes led to considerable resentment in the community, and many players are now demanding refunds because they feel deceived by the game’s marketing. As a debate on Reddit shows, Sony has already started to issue refunds for those who purchased Stellar Blade from the PlayStation Store. During the launch event, ShiftUp itself is said to have insisted that the outfit from the day one patch be the same as it was always intended to be. However, there were also internal discussions about how to deal with the situation
Between too much and too little skin
As Forbes aptly summarizes, Stellar Blade has wanted to market itself as a “non-joke” game since its announcement. The main character Eve was depicted in suggestive outfits right from the start. This played into the hands of gamers in particular, who had been complaining about the lack of “sufficiently beautiful” female characters ever since Horizon Forbidden West and Star Wars Outlaws
They Censored TF outta Eve in StellarBlade 😬😬😯😯😯😯 pic.twitter.com/5QYlE5RcrQ
– GUAPZILLA (@Durrtydoesit) April 28, 2024
The announcement that Stellar Blade was to be released globally uncensored was met with great enthusiasm by many gamers. After the final patch, the disappointment that censorship has apparently been applied to some costumes is correspondingly great. However, as some videos show, there are still quite revealing outfits for Eve. These are even more revealing in many ways than the bunny outfit discussed above.
Conclusion
The discussion about the censorship of Stellar Blade remains controversial. While some consider the changes to the outfits and the depiction of violence to be minor, others see them as a serious interference in the creative vision of the game and vehemently demand that they be withdrawn. It remains to be seen how ShiftUp will react to the ongoing debate
