Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will be the RPG's only expansion, but developer FromSoftware isn't ruling out other full games in The Lands Between.
18.04.2024 - 14:11 / gamesradar.com / Yoko Taro / Hirun Cryer / Hyung-Tae Kim
Nier Automata's director believes Japanese game developers have had difficulty implementing "Western systems" because it was hard for them to move away from Japanese-made game engines.
In a new interview with IGN, Nier Automata director Yoko Taro and Stellar Blade director Hyung-Tae Kim are asked why "very few" Japanese developers make games that look as good as Stellar Blade. That's an entirely subjective opinion, but Taro nonetheless reflects on Japan's history of success with games, anime, and manga over the past few decades.
"After being exported to the West and other Asian countries, games, manga and anime have evolved in their own ways in each region respectively. As for games, it has proven difficult for Japanese companies to implement Western systems," Taro comments. "Japan has a long history with companies developing their own engines, and it was hard to move away from that. We were very late with incorporating rendering tools and middleware from the West," the director continues.
"Even to this day, many schools don’t teach this to new developers. I think that Japanese people are not good at adapting technology from overseas. Chinese and South Korean games were much faster to use engines like Unreal for games with a Japanese aesthetic," Taro concludes.
Japan's English proficiency might be related to its difficulty adopting English-made game engines. A 2023 survey by the Swiss international education company EF Education First found that Japan's English language proficiency is continuing to drop among non-English-speaking countries (thanks, Nippon). Japan now ranks just 87 out of 113 non-English-speaking countries, while South Korea ranks 49.
Stellar Blade director Kim, meanwhile, says that although Taro believes this to be true, "it has to be said that Japanese games have a huge presence in 2024." Kim believes "Japanese content is completely back on top," and thinks things look "very positive" for Japanese-made games releasing this year. Kim stops short of naming which Japanese games he's referring to, however.
"China has great momentum as well. They have a lot of hits, especially when it comes to mobile games. I think their momentum is so great that they might have more hits on their hands then anywhere else right now for mobile games," Kim adds. "South Korean developers have a tendency to follow trends. If there's some new popular thing, everyone tends to go in that direction.
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"I have the impression that most developers here have tended to lean on mobile MMO games even more recently, but I think it's important to release games for other platforms too. We have been making mobile games here at Shift Up too, but I'm happy that
Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will be the RPG's only expansion, but developer FromSoftware isn't ruling out other full games in The Lands Between.
Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC apparently has no definitive ending, and won't impact the plot of the main game.
Stellar Blade's Eve will stare the player down if they're ogling her for too long.
Stellar Blade has launched to huge acclaim this weekend, but not every fan is delighted with Shift Up’s PS5 debut. Eagle-eyed players spotted some changes to a couple of costumes in the final product, prompting accusations of censorship from publisher Sony. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time the Japanese giant has requested changes in PlayStation games, as more titillating cutscenes in titles like Devil May Cry 5 were inexplicably edited on PS4 in the past. This decision was later reversed.
Tucked away in the corner of this year's Day Of The Devs at GDC I discovered a lavish, strangely unattended action-RPG, in which austerely beautiful young women in elaborate skirts kick the bejazus out of each other on fields of whirling flowers. That game was Aikode, the work of Spanish solo developer Ace.
is at least partially open-world, but the question of its map size is a little more complicated. 's director and developers are clearly drawing on a long tradition of action RPGs like. That means freely roamable open worlds, twisty-turny dungeons, and lots of secrets and side quests to be discovered in between. borrows genre conventions, like a perfect parry system, combo-based combat, and a meter that unlocks special attacks.
Stellar Blade is rolling out across the world today, but launch certainly isn't the end since its director has teased a crossover between the hack-n-slashin' action game and the studio's previous gacha release, best known for its - checks notes - butt-jiggling physics.
Who is the real-life model Eve is based on in Stellar Blade? Eve's curves and revealing attire has attracted a lot of fans to Shift Up's console debut, but is she inspired by a real person and who is it? On this page, as part of our Stellar Blade guide, we're going to answer the question: who is the real-life model Eve is based on?
There was a moment in Nier Automata when I knew that I was in for something special.
No Rest for the Wicked's director has cited Baldur's Gate 3 and Hades 2 as examples of how early access launches can be fantastic, and said releasing in early access is "one of the best decisions we could've made."
Stellar Blade will be uncensored in all regions, it’s been announced.
If you were concerned that the PS5-exclusive Stellar Blade, out 26th April on PS5, might run afoul of Sony's censors, fear not. Developer ShiftUp is advertising that the game will remain entirely uncensored in all regions, including Japan.