Stellar Blade review copies have made it out in the wild on the PlayStation 5 and critics are enjoying the game, calling it one of the best PlayStation exclusives in a while. But like most AAA launches, Shift Up’s game ran up against some unintentional problems soon after launch. Stellar Blade has an atmospheric world, and some parts of the world have graffiti in them, one of which is a racial slur that has resulted in some heated online discussions, which prompted PlayStation to provide an update.
Shift Up promises that this was completely unintentional and that it will be patched out with the day-one update for Stellar Blade. The graffiti itself isn’t to blame, but its placement is what complicates the situation. The shops in the game are called the “R Shop” where players can buy and upgrade items, one of those shops has a neon sign which is right next to the word “hard” graffitied on the wall.
Stellar Blade Racial Phrase Was a Mistake, Will Be Gone After Day-One Update
When they’re both combined, the racist language becomes fairly obvious. The word “hard” shows up all over the game, but only shows up near the R Shop once. This is clearly a mistake and can easily be fixed. Being a Korean studio, matters of Western social dynamics aren’t obvious to the developers. PlayStation said that Shift Up did not intend to create any offensive artwork in Stellar Blade.
Stellar Blade was inspired by some of the most famous action games in the genre, like Bayonetta and Nier Automata. Fans instantly fell in love with the game thanks to a free demo on PSN, and it even became the most preordered game on the PlayStation Store. The demo is still available and lets you get a feel for the game before you buy it. The developers unintentionally included all the skills in the demo, which means with enough time and effort, you can unlock everything in the demo unless it is patched out soon.
