Evolution of EVE: Stellar Blade’s main character

The release of Stellar Blade in April 2024 catapulted main character EVE to stardom. It's been five years since Project EVE - now Stellar Blade - was first announced and EVE has evolved significantly over time.

Stellar Blade was one of the biggest action adventure hits of 2024, and EVE is the sword-wielding poster girl whose outfits and combat caused a surge in viral popularity. Given her new found popularity, we decided to piece together her evolution. Starting with her predecessor, EVE 06.

Crazy right? When the game was initially announced to be in development back in 2019 it was called Project EVE. Furthermore, the first-ever reveal trailer for Shift Up's game - originally slated for a console / PC release - featured a different version of EVE, called EVE06. The EVE we know from the marketing from the last 4 years is EVE07.

Despite it being a different EVE, there are many similarities in design. EVE06 even back in 2019, already had the Nano Suit and an Exospine which is a big part of EVE07's design.

Shift Up did not release any further video updates about Project EVE after their announcement trailer featuring EVE06 in April 2019. Fans would have to wait until Gstar2020 in November 2020 for their next taste of Project EVE. The video came in the form of a prototype boss battle demo, and it marked the debut of EVE 07, the now central protagonist.

The boss battle demo from 2020 is intriguing looking back because it's the same battle that players can now unlock in 2024 after defeating the Abaddon boss in the Stellar Blade PS5 Demo.

EVE's new facial design was noticeably more feminine and gentle. What is more, she physically looked more mature than the almost childlike EVE 06. It would later become well documented that in 2020, Shift Up used 3D body scans of Korean model Shin Jae-Eun to create EVE's body. At the time, the model herself shared on her YouTube. However, Shin Jae-Eun simply named it her "Secret Project". EVE's face however, was created in-house.

Apart from a visual improvement, the 2020 battle demo showcased many of the mechanics we've seen in the Stellar Blade demo such as the blink, the slow-mo dodge and a level of gore that took some gamers happily by surprise. At the time, comparisons were made to 2B from Nier: Automata. Overall, gamers were incredibly impressed for more than just the jiggle physics.

Despite the impressive battle demo of 2020, Project EVE was still a relatively small project. However, it caught the eye of Shuhei Yoshida, a former exec at Sony who facilitated a contract with PlayStation.

As a result of the partnership, Shift Up gained access to extensive support, full localization, QA testing and marketing. A year into the partnership, Project EVE's Story Trailer was showcased on State of Play in September 2022. Sony's involvement had up until then not been known, and some had thought the game was dead. However, the Story Trailer received rabid excitement, with gamers impressed by the combat and the quality of the graphics.

Sony and Shift Up also announced at the State of Play the renaming of the game from Project EVE to Stellar Blade, and that it would be a PS5 exclusive. PS5 exclusives remain incredibly rare, even more so a PS5 exclusive with a female protagonist.

EVE's appearance in the State of Play in 2022, is not drastically different to what we saw in the Stellar Blade Demo release in March 2024. However, the reveal of in-game outfits through the Stellar Blade demo had a huge impact on both social media and the gaming media at large. One outfit in particular went viral on Twitter, EVE's Stellar Blade Skin Suit. It is one of 30 Stellar Blade outfits coming with the launch of the game on April 26.

While Project EVE/Stellar Blade was praised for their combat and visuals primarily over the course of the game's development, the Stellar Blade Skin Suit shifted the narrative towards EVE's physical appearance.

In February 2024, Game Director Hyung-Tae Kim confirmed in an interview with PushSquare that Shin Jae-Eun's body was used to create EVE. This news came four years after the model posted the video of her "Secret Project".

When asked why he chose the model, Hyung-Tae Kim said their goal was to "come up with the most attractive looking body to the user". A few weeks after the interview, the accidental early leak of the Stellar Blade demo led to people getting their hands on the Skin Suit. The internet went wild with clips of the skin suit in action and EVE's stocks went through the roof.

Shortly after IGN France posted an article which they have now apologised for. In the article they attacked EVE, stating she was bland and a "doll sexualized by someone who has never seen a woman". The article - now edited - also said EVE's design did not standout when compared to Bayonetta or 2B from Nier Automata.

A week later, IGN apologised for IGN France's article, saying the preview for Stellar Blade "contained comments that were out of place", and that they "sincerely apologize".

Even from the dawn of the Project EVE project, the developers Shift Up have not been coy. In fact, they've been very blunt. EVE is deliberately incredibly physically attractive, ever since the design of EVE 06 back in 2019. They even did 3D body scans of a model to make sure gamers would consider EVE the "most attractive looking body". However, the gameplay and visuals are what have kept gamers' attention throughout the five years of development.

Those with a short memory and a affinity for scandal might purely remember Stellar Blade EVE for her Skin Suit. However, in the years to come, Stellar Blade's EVE will join 2B, Tifa, Bayonetta and Tomb Raider in the ranks of iconic female characters who also happen to be quite attractive. Perhaps rather ironically, Stellar Blade announced a Stellar Blade x NieR: Automata DLC, giving players the options to play as 2B.