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Much of the pre-release discussion of Stellar Blade has revolved around the appearance of its protagonist, Eve.
So here I am, discoursing.
Stellar Blade has become a new stage for an old debate.
People like to see, and to create, attractive characters.
I don’t want to just both-sides this into mush.
To explain all this, I am forced to once again break out my greatest superpower: asexuality.
For me, romantic and sexual attraction are not only foreign but utterly undesirable.
The problem is not that Eve is sexy.
There’s nothing wrong with her body.
She’s not a walking trope built like a snake that swallowed some melons.
I like loads of details in Eve’s design.
She hasincrediblebrows and lashes.
I love that she has some natural belly fat while being slim.
I mean, of course it is; customizing characters is a video game staple.
She absolutelyrocksa leather jacket and jeans, and that’s just the start.
I think this is why a lot of people don’t like how Eve looks.
Everyone being horny in, and for, Baldur’s Gate 3 comes to mind.
But Eve’s amped-up sexiness is a weird outlier.
She has next to no interest in her own appearance or sex appeal.
At most, she mentions her hairstyle one time.
It becomes a matter of agency.
There is none of Eve in this.
She can only be forced to wear these outfits by the player.
The look doesn’t match.
Make sexy make sense
This isn’t limited to Eve, either.
Despite her more petite figure, she jiggles just as absurdly as Eve.
Sensible, stylish outfits exist, but unfitting sexiness is the default and most common option.
Yet the game makes it abundantly clear that these outfits are not appropriate for the circumstances.
Why not position these outfits as the silly, optional choices that they are?
There’s nothing inherently wrong with liking these outfits, or with games having this material in it.
I don’t want less or censored smut; I want thoughtful smut.
Characters like the scrap merchant Kaya are adorably excited to talk to Eve and starstruck to receive her help.
The game’s serious and sexy sides are fine in isolation, but don’t mesh.
There’s irrevocable conflict between the way Eve is portrayed and the way she is written.
