{"id":67861,"date":"2026-06-08T14:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=67861"},"modified":"2026-06-08T14:08:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:08:46","slug":"stellar-blade-blood-rain-director-says-new-heroine-evie-is-being-built-to-be-loved-for-more-than-just-her-looks-using-lessons-learned-from-goddess-of-victory-nikke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/stellar-blade-blood-rain-director-says-new-heroine-evie-is-being-built-to-be-loved-for-more-than-just-her-looks-using-lessons-learned-from-goddess-of-victory-nikke\/","title":{"rendered":"Stellar Blade: BLOOD RAIN director says new\u00a0heroine\u00a0Evie is being built to be loved for more than just her\u00a0looks,\u00a0using lessons learned from Goddess of Victory: NIKKE\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Shift Up&nbsp;has&nbsp;lifted the veil on&nbsp;<strong>Stellar Blade: BLOOD RAIN<\/strong>, the official sequel to 2024\u2019s Stellar Blade.&nbsp;The title\u2019s newly released reveal trailer&nbsp;showcases&nbsp;a dystopian cyberpunk setting, and to the surprise of many, a brand-new protagonist called Evie.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stellar Blade: BLOOD RAIN | Official Reveal Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CnFjcyMc4uk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As&nbsp;Stellar Blade director Shift Up CEO Hyung-Tae Kim&nbsp;recently told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.famitsu.com\/article\/202606\/77389\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Famitsu<\/a>, Evie\u2019s role in the story is that of a&nbsp;special forces unit&nbsp;member&nbsp;that\u2019s&nbsp;tracking down a group responsible for a major terrorist attack in the city. The \u201cCDDP\u201d logo on her back is also important to&nbsp;her identity, but Kim does not reveal the meaning&nbsp;as it could spoil the story.&nbsp;Another noteworthy detail is that&nbsp;Evie bears connection to the first&nbsp;game\u2019s&nbsp;protagonist Eve, but the exact nature of their relationship also&nbsp;remains&nbsp;a secret for now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Kim, Shift Up\u2019s goal is to surpass the appeal of Eve with Stellar Blade\u2019s new protagonist, especially when it comes to factors beyond appearance. \u201cOf course, I really like Eve&#8217;s appearance too, but rather than simply creating physical attractiveness,&nbsp;with Evie,&nbsp;we\u2019re focused on making&nbsp;a&nbsp;character that players can genuinely come to love,\u201d he comments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1399\" height=\"786\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1399px) 100vw, 1399px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-001jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-67864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-001jpg.jpg 1399w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-001jpg-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-001jpg-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1544\" height=\"872\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1544px) 100vw, 1544px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-002.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-67865\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-002.jpg 1544w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-002-380x215.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-002-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260608-67861-002-1536x867.jpg 1536w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, Kim notes that&nbsp;to achieve this goal,&nbsp;Shift Up is&nbsp;leveraging&nbsp;lessons learned from interacting with Goddess of Victory: NIKKE&#8217;s player base and&nbsp;observing&nbsp;how players form attachments to its characters.&nbsp;As Shift Up&#8217;s live-service third-person shooter RPG, which recently celebrated its 3.5-year anniversary, NIKKE is fundamentally a character-driven&nbsp;gacha&nbsp;where long-term engagement (and thus revenue) relies heavily on players becoming emotionally invested in the cast. In that context, the approach makes sense.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While&nbsp;the game\u2019s&nbsp;sexy and revealing designs are an obvious factor,&nbsp;much of NIKKE&#8217;s success&nbsp;so far&nbsp;has been attributed to its storytelling and character writing, which encourage players to connect with its cast on a&nbsp;significantly&nbsp;deeper level than the typical harem game.&nbsp;If Shift Up is&nbsp;planning to&nbsp;apply&nbsp;that to Evie, Stellar Blade&#8217;s sequel could end up featuring a protagonist with&nbsp;more depth&nbsp;than its predecessor&nbsp;(which Kim has previously acknowledged&nbsp;as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/stellar-blade-director-says-sequel-will-address-the-games-lacking-narrative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lacking in terms of narrative<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stellar Blade: BLOOD RAIN\u2019s release is&nbsp;likely still&nbsp;a while away though, as Kim says development is still in its&nbsp;early stages&nbsp;overall. Release platforms are also TBD, although the title has been confirmed for a multiplatform release.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/shift-up-plans-to-self-publish-stellar-blade-sequel-and-shinji-mikami-titles-update-on-mysterious-new-flagship-ip-due-within-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shift Up plans to self-publish Stellar Blade sequel and Shinji Mikami\u00a0titles. Update on mysterious new\u00a0\u201cflagship\u00a0IP\u201d\u00a0due within 2026\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stellar Blade director and Shift Up CEO Hyung-Tae Kim talks about new sequel protagonist Evie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":67863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-67861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stellar Blade: BLOOD RAIN director says new\u00a0heroine\u00a0Evie is being built to be loved for more than just her\u00a0looks,\u00a0using lessons learned from Goddess of Victory: NIKKE\u00a0 - 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