Over recent weeks, developer Shift Up has been shining a light on the ins and outs of Stellar Blade, with a major focus on the main character, Eve. With 30 outfits to collect, there’s undeniably a lot of diverse styles to choose from. However, the controversial Stellar Blade Skin Suit, perhaps the PS5 game’s most revealing outfit, has a hidden effect that makes the Souls-inspired hack ‘n’ slash much harder.
After the Stellar Blade demo was mistakenly released early on PS5, players who were quick on the draw managed to play the new PS5 game well ahead of time – including getting a good look at all the outfits. As you might expect from the name, the Skin Suit is a very revealing outfit, which says a lot considering all the other styles in the PS5 exclusive. In fact, “explicit body exposure” is the reasoning behind Stellar Blade’s age rating in Korea.
Unlike the other outfits we’ve seen so far, the Skin Suit actually affects gameplay, though you’d only know if you took the time to read the item description:
“Skin suits are outfits specifically crafted by Mother Sphere. It covers the body of the Airborne Squad Member and deploys on its own, or expands and contracts depending on the situation. In other words, it’s like a living skin.” Snuck in right at the very end of this lore explainer, however, it notes that your “shield is disabled when you put on this Skin Suit.”
The more you think about it, the more it makes sense. After all, the Skin Suit doesn’t really give Eve all that much protection. It’s no wonder you’re more vulnerable in a patchy skin-tight suit than one with armor plates. Let’s just hope people don’t equip it without realizing its negative effect, only to get pummeled by a boss over and over again.
With gameplay requiring a good knowledge of your combos and precise dodging and parry times – especially when taking on the 20 Stellar Blade bosses – the Skin Suit is designed purely for those looking for an extra challenge. Thankfully, Stellar Blade has no paid cosmetics, meaning you can earn the Skin Suit and every other outfit by completing specific in-game challenges.
Stellar Blade is shaping up to be one of the best RPG games if you’re looking for a hint of Souls-like action mixed in with fast-paced hacking and slashing. And if you can’t wait until the Stellar Blade release date, then you should check out our Rise of the Ronin preview for a similarly Souls-inspired action RPG.