Stellar Blade’s viral NSFW Skin Suit will raise the game’s difficulty
After the mistaken release of a playable demo for Shift Up’s Stellar Blade on the PlayStation Store earlier this week, users were able to get a peek at some previously undisclosed details of the game. Among them, new outfits for Stellar Blade’s protagonist Eve, especially a revealing “Skin Suit,” quickly went viral. However, it seems that while easy on the eyes, the costume will come with a catch.
Shift Up, the developers of Goddess of Victory: Nikke have emphasized the importance they place on Eve’s appearance (particularly her back view) in Stellar Blade on several occasions, even going so far as to 3D body-capture a real-life model to achieve the ideal physique for her. Eve’s various elaborate costumes are also a big part of Stellar Blade, and several of the 30 promised outfits have been leaked in the recent demo accident.
Of particular interest is the costume titled Eve’s Skin Suit, which immediately went viral (and caused some controversy) for its “sexier than fully nude” design. One technical detail about this costume has been less talked about though – it will affect gameplay. While it was previously thought that Eve’s outfits in Stellar Blade would be purely cosmetic, it appears that the Skin Suit will be an exception, as its description in the demo warns that it will disable your Shield when equipped, essentially rendering you defenseless.
This suggest that playing Stellar Blade with the Skin Suit will equate to a hard/challenge mode, and the mechanic of “less clothes = more vulnerable” is reminiscent of the Self-destruct command in Nier: Automata, which rips 2B’s skirt off her body and drops her HP to 1. On that note, it remains to be seen if the Skin Suit will come with some kind of advantage gameplay-wise.
Stellar Blade is scheduled to launch on April 26 for the PS5. Pre-orders are currently open.