Stellar Blade: Blood Rain director says younger-looking protagonist was intentional

Stellar Blade: Blood Rain protagonist Evie was intentionally designed to be younger and shorter, and Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung-tae has now explained the reasons behind this design decision.

The original Stellar Blade was one of the standout games of 2024. We even gave it a glowing four-star out of five rating thanks to its heart-pumping mix of flashy combat, Nier-inspired storyline, and eye-catching character design.

Stellar Blade’s main protagonist, Eve, famously caught a lot of attention from the wider gaming community. This was largely down to her being based on the famous South Korean model, Shin Jae-eun.

That, and the game’s director, Hyung-tae Kim, famously revealed that his team spent “extra special attention” when creating Eve’s backside. Well, now it’s Stellar Blade: Blood Rain’s turn, as new main protagonist Evie finds herself in the spotlight due to her younger look.

Stellar Blade boss says Evie’s younger look was intentional

If you watched the Summer Game Fest reveal, you’ll have noticed that Stellar Blade: Blood Rain has sent Eve packing. Yes, the protagonist from the first game has retired from slaying fleshy monsters and collecting soda cans, and this time passed her world-saving duties onto Evie.

While we don’t know much about Evie, well, besides the fact that she too stylishly cuts down monsters while wearing skin-tight bodysuits, Kim Hyung-tae has revealed the reason behind her “younger” appearance.

“We intentionally set Evie to be shorter and look a bit younger, but we worked to ensure she fights in a very tough manner and exudes a cool, stylish character presence,” Kim said in an interview with Inven Global. As to why, Shift Up’s CEO notes that it all comes down to the game’s combat.

“For combat, I thought it would be very appealing to have a small-statured character engage in intense close-quarters combat,” said Kim. The developer also noted that Evie will wield both new weapons and those that will be familiar to fans of the first game.

“I felt that using the same weapons from the previous game would make it difficult to show something entirely new, so we chose a new approach to close-quarters combat,” said the CEO. “However, various weapons, including the reverse-blade sword, will be expanded for logical reasons within the context, and the range of player options will be much wider.”

Kim also mentioned that they’re designing Evie to have an “even more defined character,” so we can expect to see even more heartfelt moments from the game’s killer cast of humanoid robot girls.

While Stellar Blade: Blood Rain doesn’t have a release date, be sure to check out the biggest releases revealed at Summer Game Fest and the Xbox Games Showcase.