While Stellar Blade was acclaimed for its gameplay, its universe and (let’s face it) its heroine, opinions were somewhat more mixed when it came to the title’s story. And it turns out that Shift Up is well aware of this.
In an interview with This is Game, the game’s director Kim Hyung-tae was asked about the storyline, which many gamers found disappointing. Surprising as it may seem, the developer agrees.
"I think it’s true that the story is pretty poor. The game’s core system was completed relatively early on, but the cutscenes were a bigger challenge. In narrative action games, cutscenes play a very important role in the narrative. This is because it’s difficult to convey all the narrative elements through action alone. So we had to convey the narrative through cutscenes, and at the start we wanted to do a lot of different sets and scenes."
"The cost of making cutscenes became too high, and for the sake of efficiency, we inevitably had to cut cutscenes that complemented our worldview and character narration, with the exception of the main plot."
Kim Hyung-tae added that he feels capable of incorporating a richer narrative in the next Stellar Blade.
