Part 4/9:
The backlash was swift. Fans of the game, gamers online, and even industry voices rallied to defend Stellar Blade and its artistic choices. Notably, the creator’s wife, a renowned artist, lent her support, emphasizing that the character design was based on her own body scans and she personally participated in the process.
The community's response was amplified by social media, with tweets criticizing IGN’s shallow and dismissive critique. One particularly popular tweet garnered nearly 60,000 likes, condemning the media outlet’s hypocrisy and lack of understanding of game design. Many users argued that attacking a character based on these standards reflects more on the critic’s biases than the reality of character creation.