Stellar Blade: This is how Hyung-tae Kim manages to rethink old recipes for success using modern means

Stellar Blade, formerly known as Project Eve, is a special game that caused some heated discussions online throughout its release phase. Sometimes the challenging action adventure received very good ratings, and not just from us. But what about the CEO? Hyung Tae Kim about the fans' reactions to its design and how did the development work together with Sony? I was able to discuss all of this and much more with the lead developer and draftsman himself in a detailed interview.

Not only does Stellar Blade look impressive, but it takes advantage of Sony's collaboration to serve all of the console's features. According to Kim, the PS5 exclusivity offers some advantages because, in addition to the desired look, the game can run at a smooth 60fps and relies on an improved gaming experience thanks to the features of the DualSense controller. The lead developer also reveals that they will do so immediately Shūhei Yoshida went into the exchange when they noticed Project Eve.

“If you look at my old artwork, you'll notice that I'm just doing what I've always done.”

When we talk about the look, one cannot ignore the fact that Eve's design caused a lot of discussion on the Internet, and that didn't go unnoticed by the illustrator either. He comments on this: “If you look at my old works of art, you notice that I'm just doing what I've always done. That's always been my style. Maybe this discussion arose because we now have it in form of a single-player console game.” The CEO of ShiftUp asks players to pay more attention to the gameplay to ensure an entertaining gaming experience. But I have to take a quick look at that. Games with revealing main characters often at least justify the visuals in the story or setting. What Hyung-tae Kim says as an illustrator and at the same time head of the studio will be particularly exciting. But you can find out from the first source in the video above.

While working on Stellar Blade, lead developer was able to meet Yoko Taro, the creator of NieR, and has even published an interview with him over the last few weeks. However, not only NieR was a great model for ShiftUp's current game, but also many other video games and media from the 80s and 90s. The CEO explains where his sources of inspiration come from: “Of course I look to popular media for inspiration, but my consumption as a child is more important […] In order to implement my ideas, I also traveled a lot, for example to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and other East Asian countries.”

By the way, you can particularly look forward to the New Game+, which will only be released today. The feedback that the developers received after the demo was published was immediately included here. Kim speaks of “a lot of special surprises.” By the way, the studio is already looking for developers for their “cross-platform next-gen” project! So it remains very exciting to see what awaits us from Studio Shift Up after today's Stellar Blade release.

We would like to thank Sony and Hyung-tae Kim for their time and the exciting interview. Stellar Blade is available today for PlayStation 5.