Stellar Blade director jokes the action RPG "is the outcome of my creative dictatorship," but "everyone pretends to listen to what I say whilst creating what they want"

Catherine Lewis
·2 min read
Stellar Blade's Eve looks off camera to the right.
Stellar Blade's Eve looks off camera to the right.

The release of hotly anticipated action RPG Stellar Blade is almost upon us – our Stellar Blade review praises its slick combat and gorgeous world, but is cooler on poor writing and janky controls. Ahead of its launch, we've been given a little more insight into the story behind its development thanks to a new installment of publisher PlayStation's behind-the-scenes video series.

In the video, founder of developer Shift Up and the director of Stellar Blade, Hyung-tae Kim, speaks about some of the inspirations behind the game, which include the likes of Sekiro, Bayonetta, God of War, Dark Souls, and Devil May Cry. He also jokingly refers to his "creative dictatorship," even if, in jest, he implies that the rest of the team might not pay much attention to his directives.

"Stellar Blade is the outcome of my creative dictatorship. However, that dictatorship is quite feeble. So, everyone pretends to listen to what I say whilst creating what they want," he laughs.

Later in the video, the director talks about Shift Up's "truly fateful" meeting with Sony, which was after Sony veteran Shuhei Yoshida "happened to be in South Korea" and came to play Stellar Blade in person after the devs reached out to the company. "From there on, our relationship with Sony began," he adds.

On the whole, it's a really wholesome video. At one point, system design lead Hyung Min Lee reveals that the team held a competition in their office to see who could beat the Abaddon boss fight first. It's a fun fight, as is the one against the demo's boss challenge, Stalker – though the devs previously said "we're scared" after seeing some devoted players putting upwards of 50 hours into the demo.

Rounding off the whole thing, the director says "Stellar Blade was made for you," and hopes that players "have a great time with its charming characters, captivating worlds, and formidable foes." Cutting through the noise around the game, he adds: "Just grab your controller and enjoy."

If you want to get ready to dive into Shift Up's action RPG tomorrow, be sure to check out our top 10 Stellar Blade tips and tricks to master the sword.