Stellar Blade's Best World-Building Happens in Its Smallest Spaces
Web3, corporate conspiracies, machine gods with sinister intent, and more
In the event you skipped past the headline, I'm about half-way through Stellar Blade so this is by no means a review. That said, I do like what I've played so far. The music, environments, and narrative did a whole lot to pull me in. Stellar Blade has you in the role of Eve, an Angel (which appears to be this game's term for an Android) as you fight to take Earth back from an alien menace known as the Naytibas. This might sound simple but one aspect in particular worked overtime to make this an absolute treat — its item descriptions.
While a lot has been said about the game's other elements, and I suppose a lot more will be said what with Stellar Blade hitting the shelves this week, its item descriptions paint a very fascinating picture of what was of Earth before it all went to hell.
Take for example the text used to describe Vitcoins, an in-game currency used in certain shops or more importantly to activate the many vending machines that dot your playthrough:
With the rise of blockchain platforms, cryptocurrencies became the mainstream of the market. People embraced the decentralised currency without many questions, However, after networks disappeared, all e-wallets became worthless, except for those that downloaded nodes and saved them to the coins.
It's rare to see developers go into this much detail with something as basic as its currency. Sure, this is a post-apocalyptic world and there usually is a justification for cash existing in some shape or form, but to have it laid bare in such a fashion tells a tale in of itself. Society prior to the events of game appears to have become a web3 fanboy's wet dream, right down to cold wallets versus hot wallets.
The attention to detail extends to items like Shield Enhancement Gear which is a fancy way of saying you have a +100 to your shields at its base value.
Some gear modules had a bug that caused the Shield Condenser capacity to be misread. Orca Aerospace Company marketed the bug as an intended function and avoided recalls by signing non-disclosure agreements with developers who worked day and night to fix it.
The whole "well actually it's a feature not a bug" gimmick is not too dissimilar to what companies have done over the years be it Apple chiding people for holding their phones wrong or Sony telling gamers that no backwards compatibility is perfectly fine. It also goes to show how dominant companies were, essentially making the world of Stellar Blade pre-apocalypse a veritable corporatocracy. Besides, Orca Aerospace in how its presented gives me mild Tesla slash Boeing vibes.
And then there's Mother Sphere. An omniscient machine that appears to be running humanity's counter-efforts to retake Earth from the moon. Its a divisive enough character though this single passage for a crafting item alludes to a level of secrecy and possible sinister intent:
The Extreme Nano Element produced by Tetrastar is also known as a Quantum Nerve. Quantum Nerves function as nanowires, processors, and even memories, making them an electrical engineer's dream come true. Omnipotent, universal, and almighty... Aside from all this marketing jargon, no one knew what it actually was, except for Mother Sphere.
Sure, let the machine god be the only one who knows why atoms and bits of this universe — a fundamental building block if you will — exist. That won't have any ramifications at all /s.
And finally, these two pieces of gear — one that boosts your combos and another that amps your critical hits respectively. Here's the first one:
Depending on its intended use, body firmware came in different types. The range of normal operation for gear also varied for each firmware type. This meant that you couldn't just pick up a module and use it. It was the painful reality faced by the citizens of Xion, who were dumped on the ground empty-handed.
As for the other:
In 2043, engineers at the Eidos Company aimed to develop an efficient modular gear expansion design. Who could've known that this would be helpful after the world ended? There aren't many devices like this gear module that can help you survive in the Wasteland.
The implications of these suggest that a game world which is pro-DRM to the point where critical firmwares are locked behind specific body augments (despite being 'modules') is one doomed and Stellar Blade's writers have used these to explain why humanity's chances of taking Earth back are bleak.
Granted I still have some way to go before I'm done, but Stellar Blade's writing, particularly in its item descriptions do add a lot in terms of world-building and its overall lore. Some prefer keeping things overtly vague (I'm looking at you FromSoft) while others just list their functional merits, Stellar Blade's writers going the extra mile make the journey all the more enjoyable. You really don’t have a lot of space to write a good description. At times, these are measured in characters rather than words. I’m glad Stellar Blade made each word count.
Interesting insights from the Indian games market
I visited Sony’s Comic Con Mumbai 2024 stall. Aside from the obligatory games and hardware on display, company representatives tell me a large chunk of PS5 owners are first-time buyers who have usually played games on smartphones. Sounds in-line with previous reports that suggested those audiences would want to move to consoles and PC.
Speaking of Sony, don’t expect stock of the original PS5 to last. Sources in the supply chain tell me the company isn’t selling them any more. Looks like we’re only going to see the PS5 Slim variant on the shelves until the inevitable PS5 Pro.
Nintendo has been eyeing India again. Several of its staff made it to the country visiting key markets like Mumbai earlier this year. However no deal has been struck with any party for distribution in India. Sources tell me the company isn’t a fan of India’s BIS rules which they fear could reveal their factories. Nonetheless if Sony and Microsoft have been able to find a way, it’s just a matter of time before Nintendo follows suit.