Is This Holding Stellar Blade Back? 

There are plenty of non sexualized outfits in the game. It's completely up to the player to choose how they will experience it. Like you yourself said during the demogorgon fight "I chose the wrong outfit for this fight". So no, I dont think this is holding the game back. Yes it's mega sexualized, no doubt, but it also isn't if you dont want it to be. 2B straight up had a self destruct just so she could have her bare ass hanging for you to see, if you wanted. But I never see this being mentioned as a detractor to Nier, so I'm not sure this suddenly is a problem for Stellar Blade

This is my GOTY. (for now. it could change) I replayed this game 3 times with boss challenge mode completed. I don’t find this oversexualisation as something new or to be embarrassed about in my opinion. Bayonetta and a TON of PS2/PS3 games does it. Xenoblade 2 does it a whole lot too. I just hope the sequel people would just forget it like with Bayonetta, and focus on everything else. Not saying ignore it completely but maybe make the combat and everything else “louder”. People can switch to outfits with her jeans and there’s also tons of people talked about this game. Whether good or bad it sold wll. Don’t forget, Dante was basically wearing a jacket without his shirt and his abs was out tons in DMC3. I will say, if they went and be “safe” with Stellar Blade 2 instead of the first game, i just have a feeling there’s gonna be tons of outrage and maybe even hurt it sales but that’s just an assumption. I’ve seen tons of Japanese female Vtuber not minding Eve using those sexy outfits and they sometimes change saying it’s “kawaii” (cute) Most of them I watched were sold after playing the free demo too Still surprising Cohh like this more than Nier and I understand. This is SHIFT UP’s first single player game compared to Yoko Taro’s so there’s gonna be more potential for a sequel. Loved Eve and Lily. Adam is… whatever lol

Oversexualization, gore, gameplay, horror, remakes that changes the dialogue, models or anything could hurt sales. this is just preference. Like how you can change her clothes. Dragon Dogma 2 has players showing their cheeks. What really hurt sales it’s what someone said on here. Exclusivity.

I want to say, what is holding the game back for me is mostly the PS5 exclusivity, as it makes me unable to play the game. And contrary to the Sony expectations, this won't make me buy a PS5, but only get annoyed at Sony, as with all their other PSN shenanigans currently. I also think that there are a lot of outfits in the game that are less revealing so you don't necessarily need to focus on that if you don't want to.

I would say that the sexuality of some outfits is not what breaks the immersion, but the feeling of wearing a skin that doesn't fit a specific moment I remember when I played Final Fantasy 15 for the first time and unlocked the Cupple Noodle Hat. I used it during a cutscene that had some emotional elements, and I remember feeling so bad that I literally restarted the game, reloaded my last save, and removed the hat to rewatch the cutscene. Another example is God of war 2018. I personly never equipe Kratos with those armors that cover up all his torso area, even knowing that some those armors have the best stats. As someone who platinum and have beaten all the 6 previous games several times, to see Kratos all covered in those juggernaut armors would always break the immersion to me. Stellar Blade and all those games give the player the option to wear whatever they want, so I don't see as a problem at all. What I would do on my first stellar blade playthrough is wear the default outfit during main missions, casual outfits during side quests that involves walking around and exploring Xion, and bikini outfits during fishing

4:06 That's all you though. The first outfit isn't that revealing, you choose what outfit you want to wear. Mouton peony, daily denim, sporty yellow, daily sailor, punk top, all of those are just regular outfits, there's even more but they're dresses so camera angles can screw with you. It seems like even when they give people options, just the fact that the target audience gets what they want (mostly) is "problematic". Even weirder, you enjoyed that, so what's the problem ? I don't think it hurts the game. It's a complete package, this is part of their vision. From Destiny Child to Nikke it's what these devs do. It might hurt the sales in the west but who cares ? The target audience loved it.

It is just modern Bayonetta that Nintendo wasn't able to make! It looks super cool and after a few minutes you forget what you are looking at - ladders are still an experiencer though.

Honestly I think it's sexualization is fine. The biggest problem is that so many people championed it as the savior of western gaming, just because of that. It became the public's entire focus instead of something like the story or gameplay, which feel more important for a game.

This vid skirts a fine line between taking a review format that Cohh famously keeps spoiler free and adds just a little sprinkle of video interest - which granted really adds to the experience, however I'd caution staying on the right side of that line :D

I'm loving these new videos.

I'm just waiting for a PC release, man... I think exclusivity and the lackluster English dub are what really hurt this one far more than the discussion about Eve's sexuality ever did.

I completed and got the platinum. Honestly I didn’t really pay much attention to the character when playing because you’re looking at the environment and enemies more than anything. As for the marketing, I think the game benefits from the sexually appealing character designs which , let’s face it , in todays climate is like a breath of fresh air.

I think for me, I don’t have too much suspension of disbelief when it comes to games. I know it’s a game and I want over the top things. I want unrealistically gorgeous characters with interesting costume designs. And these things are optional for people like me to enjoy while there are quite a few outfits in SB that can pass as like world friendly and grounded. I wouldn’t even mind if there was no story. In the end games are games, like back in the day you were thrown in to just enjoy the gameplay with almost no context about what is going on. If you enjoy Stellar Blade in this way you don’t care what the hell she’s wearing. You’re just playing a game with a chick with 70 outfits that slashes things. It’s wild, it’s fun, it goes against AAA status quo. Wouldn’t have stood out if it didn’t.

I'm 30. I love the DMC,NierAutomata,bayonetta & horizon zero games. &I grew playing dmc&bayonetta along w many others. This game is a gem w it's rough edges. &I love it, the tig Ol bitties & butt will come to a pass (no pun intend) after a while once you git into the game more & it reminds me of when I first played bayo. It was exciting & then becoming pure badassry.

i feel that they needed the hotness of the main character so people would talk about it

its all character if you use the sexappeal to write your character it dosent break Immersion (best example Bayonetta) if you want fanservice lock it behind costumes and give us 1 default that fits the immersion

I love this format with all the cuts. Great evolution to your thoughts videos.

Thought this game was gonna be one of those waifu games(not games I am normally interested in), but after I saw the demo on some streams and played it myself I realized how satisfying the combat was, I was totally in and I have no problem having a beautiful sexy woman as the protagonist of the game.

Woah.... this is definitely the best presented Thoughts Video I've seen from Cohh. Love the implementation of shorts from Cohh and the actual thoughts video too. Good job, Cohh Team!

you can choose her to look like that or someone with actual pants and a shirt like how you can choose not to self destruct in nier. i don’t see the big problem with it and i am 20. this game is selling pretty well. a pc port would make this game sell more which is great. i know what you mean by “maybe it could sell more if it wasn’t this naughty”. maybe. but reallly those that are missing out let them miss out. it’s not something we should think deep about. that’s like saying “do you think dark souls had easy mode would it help or hurt their sales?”

This is what the developer wanted years ago even saying this is meant for adults and is a mature game. I don’t think the devs cares nor should we about the “if this game was less fanservice-y it would’ve sold more”

Despite being a huge action and Souls fan, I'm not interested in this due to the sexualization. I'd be embarrassed to play this in front of my wife. I'd be ashamed to play it in front of my niece. That's kind of the end of the argument for me.

Some of the edits are a bit questionable.. not really relating to what is being said like when cohh talked about sekiro's combat the clip was just him walking away. But overall the video was good!

Maybe the game would've reached more people with less "sexualization" as you called it. But your message sounds like "EITHER make a serious action game like Devil May Cry OR make a 'sexualized' game with jiggly boobs and cute and sexy outfits." BUT I WANT BOTH! For me this was a very good combination of both. Not that I don't like DMC or such but this was something different for a change and it was awesome. If we only make games that will be liked by MOST people we will end up with always the same shit. Of course, if the "sexualization" had been too much it would've become silly or ridiculous or even pathetic. But in my opinion it was just the "asian style" that kind of touched this overall amazing action game and I LOVED IT! Side note: As you said "many people may have missed out a great game": I almost missed out Nier: Automata because of the hard tutorial at the beginning. I managed through but was immediately demotivated to keep playing. Two years later I ALMOST deinstalled it (had been on my "I will try it again eventually" list for 2 years) but I thought "Well, let's give it one last shot" and I'm so glad I did, loved it so much. So... that's a thing that happens to many great games, apparently. :D

I echo @MsCaiaffa thoughts EXACTLY, I enjoyed the visual cheesecake and for me it really did not interfere with the immersion I enjoyed within the fascinating world / levels and combat moments of game play. The over the top outfits could be distracting to some players, IF you allow them to be. I am a 68 year old male gamer, been playing since I was 15, started with a Commodore 128, which I still have in storage. I have not finished watching your playthrough yet, I am on episode 71 or so, but enjoyed that you had the same failed attempts that I had with some of the platforming around trying to find the cans, outfits and etc. If anything was holding back this game it was the PS5 Exclusive, again repeating what a member commented earlier. Can you even imagine the Nexus mods on this if / when it gets ported to PC??? Those WOULD be distracting as al get out. I also played with the Korean VA with English sub titles, which did not really deter the VA in English.

I agree. I think the over the top sexualization distracts from how awesome the game really is and I also think this video by the new RU-vid team is REALLY well done. Good show! 🎉

No, from a gameplay standpoint, I don’t think it hurts the game. It seems to fit with the look and vibe of the game IMO. I can see why it might hurt the game from a marketing standpoint but other than that, I think it fits in with the game perfectly. I do think the hype around that particular aspect (lol) of the game is what is hurting it, if you look at the game as a whole with “that” included, it all works!

Sexualization in video games is fine when it's done *right*. The issue I had with Stellar Blade is that it didn't really make sense for Eve to be running around and fighting in a lewd outfit. Especially in a game where there's an emphasis on the story, having the character appearance be THAT disconnected from who they actually are is weird and can take people (myself included) out of it ; and since sexualization is such a sensitive topic, it makes it even worse. I like butts as much as the next guy (if not more), but the context matters to me. I would not enjoy a sex scene / lewd scene in a movie if it was completely random and disconnected from what the story is about. I feel the same way about video games. I would even say it matters more to me because video games is what I'm more passionate about. There are plenty of good use of sexualization out there, one of the most obvious being Bayonetta (I'm sure some people have or will mention her in the comments). From the way she fights to the way she acts, it makes sense for her to be sexualized. That being said, I completely understand that some people don't mind at all. If you're having fun with the game that's great! I just hope those people don't automatically translate the criticism stellar blades gets as "butts and cleavage are evil"

About the "oversexualization". The game that put shiftup on the market is Nikke, wich is higly sexualized, so they went with the same formula on a different genre with SB. One of the metrics used to evaluate characters in Nikke is JPS (Jiggles Per Second), wich is kind of a meme but it shows the degree of fanservice that the audience is used to. What I think would be the best solution: Give the players some less sexy outfits. Something like a military fatigue, more "baggy" clothing with less revealings features. I guess that would make some people less unease to play the game. But it is worth noting that there was some controversy because they've made the outfits less revealing than in thefirst demo (I can't remember if it was the cleavage or the sideboobies, but there was something that made players feel scammed hahaha). Maybe the devs wanted to go with a less sexualized approach, but the slightest changes would make the existing ShiftUp playerbase mad.

I feel for the people that write it off at face value. Reminds me of how people view Xenoblade Chronicles 2. If the games were created with their original views in mind I’m glad they released it as such and let the market decide if it’s something that can be successful

I think this game garnered as much publicity as it did BECAUSE of the sexualization. It set it apart from the current trend of uglifying characters and people who might've been turned off from games lately because, well, ugly, certainly heard of it due to the sexualization. Sure, in a perfect world it could've been turned down some, but unfortunately we kinda live in a polarized world and to get attention, you swing hard, or you don't swing at all.

the montagne and stuff cracked me up! Really well done! Thank you !

There's a clear bias in the western mainstream media. Stellar Blade has a lot of sexy costumes, but in terms of actual sex there's almost ZERO sexual innuendos, let alone real sex scenes. Games like Baldur's Gate 3, and even the Witcher 3, have actual nudity and sex scenes. BG3 even has actual bestiality.

It might hurt it at some degree, from people that don't look further than just aesthetics. At the same time, I feel like the developers well knew that hyper sexualizating a characater was their go to, and kind of their motto? Like if you put gore and blood in a game you already know it will be restricting certain audiences? Same for sexualization of the main character. All that being said. What you're doing here is probably the intention they had. "Oh we had a super casual sexualized game, but IT TURNS OUT TO BE ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD". The plot twist. The media covering a "maybe not-so good game" and labelling it was "wow, this game changed my perspective of things". Doki doki did it, and the media, CCs, communities were the messengers of such plot. Maybe it was all part of their scheme. I could totally see it, as it keeps happening more and more when seeing all the CCs talk about how good the gameplay is. Now, if you can't turn off your monkey brain when playing it, could be detrimental for you. But surely a lot of people playing it at their homes alone would look past over the fifth time there's a butty zoom in.

Can’t play it because I only have an XBox and PC. I thought they had the ability to change the outfits. After playing lots of games and other titles I have a hard time with games that don’t have a feature to swap outfits and the like.

...someone tell Cohh to play Devil May Cry 3. Literally destroys his point.

I don't see the issue with making the character look attractive. I feel like if you're hung up on this "oversexualization" of the character claim and that alone prevents you from enjoying the game, you might have some kind of self esteem issues that need to be worked out. This is a M rated game where the developers wanted that element to be a part of the game. There are thousands of other games that have no elements of sexualizatuon or attractive characters. Thats the beauty of the gaming industry, there's truly something out there for everybody

Great question. I think it’s a catch-22. More people would be comfortable playing it without the objectification of Eve, but it wouldn’t have gotten initial coverage without that objectification. I’m glad you stuck with it and enjoyed it. I’ll say that as an argument against what i just said, there are modest outfits (kill bill, denim, the bear, etc) that people can grab.

I think if over-sexualized is a word in your vocabulary the problem is entirely you, and it is people like you who should be requesting from game developers to create an added game character selection that does not turn them on. Otherwise you can say being turned on can be healthy for you if people are into it, or you should be leaving the character design up to the developer team especially if you are the type of person that cannot handle a voluptuous character design which there are plenty of people who cannot. Also I do not think age is the best way to describe whether or not you are turned on easily by what you see, I think it is your social experience, and possibly your gender identity.

I want hot and good gameplay to be he normal so it will not turn turn people away thinking they are trying to make up for anything else one else?

I think its the opposite. Becsuse people talk about how hot she is game became moro popular. Evertone were arguing about it. I think it helped it.

This is by far the best presented thoughts video I have seen. Who ever on Cohh's team worked on this, Great job!

I think the sexualization of this game is minor, but depends on maturity of the audience, if people want to make it an issue they will. Doesn’t matter if male or female, everyone will have an opinion based on their own preferences.

The new clickbait title meta

but cohh you wore those outfits and the immersion breaking is on you i was totally focused on everything else instead of “wow bum.” does v rising hurt it sales because its not first person and is a top down game? does baldurs gate hurt it sales because its not an action game? i understand that you want to hear others opinion but the comments is expected with people being embarrassed and some don’t mind it which makes sense

I think that it is an issue for gamers like myself who prize immersion and worlds that are tonally consistent (ala Fromsoft games, etc.). It's not that the sexy outfits exist; it's that they are tonally inconsistent and therefore immersion-breaking in the context of Stellar Blade's world and the story it's trying to tell. If the game's world and story had an absurd or much more lighthearted, freewheeling tone, the outfits would not be an issue whatsoever.

It's like Nikke, the other shiftup game.. I've started playing for the ASSets, but stayed for the plot (and for the ASSets)

Good take but one thing I disagree is the oversexualization destroying the immersion. Shift Up (Creator of NIKKE) is known for their oversexualized character designs. However, they are so good with storytelling and creating character development that the oversexualization is just there.

Why is everyone so prude? Art is subjective. I really hate that modern games are so alike, I really love when something breaks the mold.

I think just the fact of having so much controversy has put WAY more eyes onto the game than anything else. So no, I don't think it would have done better without it.

Personally, if the gameplay and story are really good, the character appearance doesn’t matter. It would be like saying, would you like this better if she was black, or male, or etc. For me no, of course not. However, on the broad spectrum of audience appeal, this seems like you’ll get a fairly 50/50 split where your initial audience will either be attracted or put off, but then as the quality of the game is revealed and gushed about, those initially dissuaded by appearance will be enticed by reviews

I think that's a filter. I think the devs were not targeting people who get offended or grossed out by more skin than your average game. They wanted people who can appreciate pretty shapes (cause the sexualization part is on the player tbh, you either go there or you just go "damn that looks nice" without much afterthought.) but enjoy a game that's not just show. I like that approach, because tbh most game shy away from that and when they don't it's usually to hide a subpar gameplay experience. These people knew what they were doing, what they enjoy and thought, let's make a game for people like us. And with that kind of budget: it's very commendable. Nier Automata/Bayonetta is the same deal: it's a wonderful game but they wanted a hot protagonist and they didn't pull any punches. Result: SO MUCH FANART. Their public love them !

Heck no, as a matter of fact i enjoyed the game because of the combination of both things, gameplay and exciting my imagination! It really fits to what the director wanted to convey in terms of delivering a fantasy character. Me personally I always want to see a fantasy character not a realistic one and having EVE capable of wearing so many unique revealing and non revealing outfits completes that experience for me. I enjoyed how you have the option to choose a realistic outfit and enjoy every cutscenes or a fantasy outfit because most women would not wear half if not any of those outfits at all in public. For my personal taste revealing outfits is what completes EVE as a fictional character,because it puts her on a spot of doing everything an average person cannot do at the same time, she is thoughtful, mission oriented,logical,mature and yet naive,trustful,spiritual,and on top of all that even sexy as hell??? Like man!!! I have over 100+ hours with platinum trophy and still play it occasionally just because i want to revisit those sexy camera shots which makes my day soo much better! I feels like this game just proved how suppressed a lot of men feel now a day for liking sexy things, i been reproached by my own wife as a pervert because how i like to dress EVE… but its funny how she fails to realize that when i bought her similar clothing, she will not wear them because she feels overly sexualize or make judgmental statement like “whores and porn star wear that stuff” I am pretty certain i am not the only one suffering these type of suppression which is why i love this game soo much

sexualization is a big part of the game, of what it makes it what it is, and what it is IS great

I agree to an extent the game does not really interest me in terms of sexualization. Its far too much, and I find it incredibly generic for what could've been. So much of the environments could've been better more interesting but the story and main character really hold back what could've been a really solid experience. I still think its mechanically a bit more interesting than Nier But I don't think it can top what its trying to beat. Which is Nier automata.

I honestly don't think the sexualized stuff hurt the game at all. I view it the same as I do Nier. The sexy stuff is there if you want it, but you can easily just overlook it or ignore it at the same time because of how interesting the story and gameplay are.

Yes I think you nailed it on the head Cohh. I know quite a few people that will never experience this game because of what you said and I think it is distracting for me as well.

I think this is possibly a better version of thoughts videos, giving us more meat and context to possible comments! As for the sexy in the game?It does make it slightly harder to enjoy some parts i can't disagree...

I agree, hypersexualization makes things appear cheap, and they usually are. But I prefer more natural body shapes, so to me it looks like blow-up dolls or people who overdid it with the silicon.

Honesty thought this game would be a bust because of the giggly and booba main character.

Don't get me wrong as a guy I appreciate the beauty of the female body but I'm not a huge fan on sexualization being one of the Key stand out points to the game. I find it too distracting for me lol.

I understand what you're saying completely, but I feel like the hyper sexualization was an artistic, intentional design by the developers. I don't think THEY are worried about if it took away from the game as this is something they wanted. I'm sure they want to be known for this type of game and don't care about any negative reviews from that viewpoint.

Speaking of hypersexualization and that it is a problem in the game, I think that to begin with the problem is people who have 2 neurons and secondly you say that the appearance of the characters does not fit in that world when if you had known about something about the story precisely the appearance of its characters makes all the sense in the world

No it makes the game better. If ya have an issue with the way she looks or its too distracting cover her up. Theres tons of outfits to choose from.

I'm 23 male and I immediately get distant just from the sexualization of the game. To me It feels like I would get embarrassed if my friends saw me play this game. However, after listening to your review, I might give this a shot.

played this infront of my GF and she didn’t mind it. she found eve and lily cute. mind you i was using her default outfit that sporty yellow and the one with that jeans. after she left I just tried out the other ones. cohh i loved your sb playthrough you were very positive about the game especially the ending but i do think you never wear those normal types of outfits thats why you kept making jokes theres nothing damaging this game. people who felt embarrassed needs them to know YOU CAN WEAR SAFE TYPES OF CLOTHES. there problem solved. and if they refuse to listen they never cared about this game to begin with. p.s saw u talking about dante abs and i cant help but giggled after seeing dmc3 dante and its the best dmc game there is. also solid snake latex anyone?? mgs 5 also had quiet the character

I think it's fine. The game is about being human. I personally would incorporate what I call the unmorals as means to art. Things neither moral or immoral, but a like as much as possible. The 4 I found is that everything human is sexual, violent, disgusting and selfish. Considering the sexualization, gore, multiple sewer levels and characters, this game thematically is further in art to me than most others. It doesn't say away as art shouldn't.

I agree that the oversexualization hindered the game in my (and I'm guessing many others') eyes. I, also, instantly passed on it simply because it made me think of like a Lollipop Chainsaw (which I've never actually played but see that as another game that utilized hyper-sexualization of women as an in-game mechanic) or something where it seemed like the sexualization was the point (which, like Cohh... I also like the boobs and the buttas lol).. and thus really had no care for it up until its release where it got alot of praise.. and even this Thoughts video makes me REALLY want to check it out.. which sucks because If I had known all of how good it would be, I'd have probably pre-ordered the damn game, but now I'm so interested in every thing else that it'll probably go on my backlog and likely won't get a play from me as I have such little time for gaming anymore and tend to either look ahead or focus on a single game at a time which usually then goes into something else I'm interested in by the time I finish lol. Love the thoughts video though. I always enjoy hearing your thoughts on a game, especially when it's one I haven't played but am considering. This video, especially, felt very curated by the editing team and I love it. I said it earlier, but GG everyone!!

Good Show

Glad some people really like this game. For me, the way over sexualization was a turnoff and impacted my purchasing decision. If Devil May Cry oversexualized Dante in the same way, I would have not purchased it either. I don't want to see my characters privates shoved in my face all game.

I honestly wasn't expecting Cohh to play stellar blade just wow.. in the positive ofc shows he has no discrimination when a game is good despise so many ppl complains about stuff that has nothing to do with gameplay, I applaud him on that.

I had such moments in Skyrim/Fallout4 - got a curvy hi-res female model, but it is covered in all these ugly clothes and armor. Several gigs of new wardrobe later ... I got the most gorgeous female in the world, wearing the most provocative attire ... and looking painfully out of place. I get your point about SB, but what about the Dark Souls/like/ games? How many people are repulsed by the 2010 visuals? Its hard, grotesque and ugly. And no korean doll to play dress up with. At least here the models are made by the creators and not cobbled up with 10+ mods. If you are considering spending dozens of hours in a game, having a model worth looking at is a good start, especially if it is padded with good writing, game design, visuals and music. A nice face can make you check out the game, if nothing else. PS. And lets keep in mind the whole inclusion bunch want to exclude having beautiful females in games while publishers are ok with red rivers after you, just make sure Timmy does not ask Mommy why his pants get tight while playing X.

Oversexualization was a problem that Nier: Automata had, too. But in a different manner. In Nier the default camera angle while running would always auto adjust in a way that it would always just peek below 2B's skirt. It annoyed me so much that I spent a good amount of time researching how to disable this camera auto adjust. This is less of a problem in Stellar Blade IMO because you can just choose a different outfit.

Definitely the reason I didn't get very far in your playthrough-seemed like a neat gameplay experience, but the cognitive dissonance of the story and character aesthetics took me right out.

No , This age of time you are rather trash or Elden ring 20/10 score You can not 6/10 , 7/10 or even 9.9/10 anymore There are noting in between you must nail selling point(boobs) Everything else can wait for Next title part 2

I'd say the fan service helped sales and more games should lean into it.

I agree Cohh, you chose the right outfit for that fight

Yeah you really hit the nail on the head with the DMC comparison. I’d feel awkward playing it too.

Honestly, it might have held it back some and the unfortunate truth is now they kinda have to commit to it. Personally, after I got the Knitted Sweater that was kind of my go to. Not because I was purposely trying to avoid the sexy stuff, but I genuinely liked the skin the most. But yeah, seeing her fighting giant naytiba in dommy mommy attire was a little offputting at times.

dont see a big issue with it and never will. i hope shift-up continues delivering games with their creative vision instead of listening to others and dumbing it down because it “may” hurt their sales.

You can literally say any game could hurt sales because it don’t tailor to their preference. Dante was basically shirtless in DMC3. You played Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

I agree, as an older married gamer I won’t play it due the fact it could offend my wife.

Stellarblade is eye candy . She is gorgeous and motivates you to play . The game is great . I will buy more games from shift up .

Hard agree, too much fan service.

I think it’s the opposite. If EVE wasn’t depicted the way she is, this game likely would not get as much attention. Therefore less sales. The devs knew what they were doing. Everyone knows how the west will react and they got free advertising.

The number of games with sexy protagonists that are also good in terms of gameplay and story can be counted on one hand of a lumberjack that went through a buzzsaw accident. And Cohh wants less of them.

You described it perfectly and you're correct (in my case) I love the genre etc but to me it completely takes me out of the experience playing as a oversexualized female that looks like a walking sex doll (If you disagree that's awesome. I'm not trying to change it lol) but it ain't for me. I want something more "grounded" for the lack of a better word. (Edit) Your example with Dante is also perfect.

I agree with you. I reallynot comfortable with this sexualizations but aside from it, i know alot of people that play game in front of family or the screen is somewhere that everybody in the house can see. It's kinda hard to play to be honest😂

Spot on, can't play this with my teen girls or wife around. No matter what the character is wearing. KEKW

The sexualisation is definitely holding it back, but not in terms of sales. No one I know has given it a chance because whenever we see a game like this we associate it with the immensely creepy anime/incel community. The main problem is there isn’t a reason for any of it. It’s just there to appeal to people I REALLY do not want to be associated with. Like the people who think Gamer Gate 2 is a good idea. Or the people who think “woke” is a real thing that is ruining games.

:D

It’s the #FREESTELLARBLADE movement that makes the game look bad and just gooner bait too for the rest of us that enjoy the game. Ik there some in that movement that genuinely care about the game not being released uncensored as promise but a lot and I mean a lot of those ppl in the movement genuinely care about seeing more skin on eve and it’s sad fr

4:50 you can't maintain story intensity and immersion with tits and butts. this is why Stellar Blade will never come close to a hundredth of a Returnal (I know I'm comparing different styles of video games...). And I also love breasts and buttocks, but I find the level design of Stellar Blade absolutely poor: the world is as generic as can be, the colorimetry is sad... In short, everything was focused on the characters , it's a shame.... At least the fights are good: that's the least you can expect.

Yeah, I don't know. I do not vibe with the clickbaity title at all as I do not associate Cohh with it. I really hope that this is not the new standard for his thoughts videos. I get why it might be necessary to grow this sub-channel but it feels very off.

There is no male character to play in this game. If you want to play this game, it's T&A all the time. If you're a woman and you want to play this game, you have to be so desensitized to the objectification of the lead, that you're okay with it. Nobody's talking about this character, except for referencing her as the T&A. She's not Aloy or Ellie, she's Boobarella. Certain elements lost their minds over Aloy's peach fuzz. This is the response to that. It's a response that leaves women gamers out of the equation entirely. Why on earth would I want to pay good money for this when there's Hellblade or Horizon Zero Dawn or Control or Plague Tale or Last of Us 2 or AC Valhalla/Odyssey. Why would I watch you play I think by playing this game, you got the views, you got the good game, and you ultimately changed the way I viewed you. From a wholesome, family man to yet another dudebro who doesn't care that women are half your audience. I'm not a prude, Cohh. I like T&A too, but this game reduces the female lead to her f'able attributes. I'm too old to waste by entertainment time and money on a game that considers me subhuman. I think the thing that disappoints me the most is, as a long time T2 subscriber, I wanted better from you. I really did. I think you did a real disservice to your female fans. And I think they're not going to tell you that because they feel like you won't listen or you'll just call us 'feminists'. We're so tired right now, Cohh. So tired. We lost Roe, MeToo didn't change anything, I just wanted a place to come and escape from that real word bs. That's why I care enough to write three paragraphs. I expected more from you. This thoughts video just tipped me over the edge. To answer your question, does the assification of this game damage it's appeal? Yes. PS Maybe also take a moment to learn what female South Korean game devs have to go through even to get a job. There's a reason there's no female influence in this game.

4:08 different demographic. They tried to capture a lot of different audiences. From the ones who love seeing sexy women to the ones who enjoy unique and fun action combat and so on. So I don't think that is holding it back, I would rather say it brings it out more. If it was some normal looking average woman or even a dude the game would be just another cool, alright action game, but now it is A Stellar game lol.

It was number 1 on the sales chart for April. I think that question was already answered. Yes, it helps the game, almost exclusively. If you remove it, you get maybe a 10th the sales, if you're lucky. The fact of the matter is; it doesn't matter how great a game is, if you cannot get people to try it. How do you get people to try it? You add a visual incentive to separate it. This really unique idea called appealing to a target audience. I know, we aren't trying to appeal to "everyone", how truly "awful". When you attempt to appeal to "everyone" what you're actually doing is appealing to no one and making an incredible meek and uninteresting game.