Image: Shift Up
Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has confirmed the game won’t be censored anywhere upon release.
Developer Shift Up has announced that its upcoming action adventure game Stellar Blade will be released, “uncensored,” in all regions worldwide, including Japan. Developers often release different versions of their games to fit the age ratings they want, usually by toning down their violence and sexual content.
While the game’s overly sexualised protagonist has drawn a lot of attention from players in the months leading up to its release, it looks like Shift up hasn’t had to alter the game in any way for its worldwide release on April 26.
Stellar Blade won’t be censored in any region
Stellar Blade is officially getting an uncensored worldwide release. In the US, the game is being released with a ‘Mature’ ESRB rating, featuring, “blood and gore, [strong] language, suggestive themes, and violence,” which is pretty par for the course for a violent action game like this one. Despite the discourse surrounding the strange camera angles and skintight suits used to portray the game’s protagonist Eve, it looks like the game doesn't go any further in terms of sexual content.
That’s good news for players who have been looking forward to Stellar Blade, and might not want to play a censored version of it in certain regions. The fact that it’s being released uncensored in Japan is notable, as not even Japanese games are safe from censorship in the region. The Resident Evil games are famously far more bloody and violent in every other region than in Japan, for example.
Shift Up’s announcement didn’t go into depth on what exactly won’t be censored in the game, but it’s safe to assume that its content just isn’t provocative enough to push past an ‘M’ or ‘18’ rating in the first place. Previously, the developer had revealed a semi-revealing ‘Skin Suit’ costume for Eve - but recommended against using it, as it lowers Eve’s defense stats significantly. As you can probably guess, some have taken that as a challenge.
Stellar Blade launches as a PlayStation 5 exclusive on April 26, with a free demo available on the console for players to try now.