Summary
Throughout the world ofStellar Blade, there are tons of collectibles for players to discover, including important items like crafting materials, upgrade components like Omnibolts and Tumbler Expansion Modules, and new pieces of Gear and Exospines. While these collectibles are helpful toStellar Bladeplayers in equipping EVE with the tools necessary to take on the game’s toughest challenges, the game also features Cans as collectibles that players can display back in Xion. These Cans are a fun detail in the game that adds a surprising amount of depth to the game’s world, and they avoid falling into the same controversial trap asDeath Stranding.
Stellar Bladeisn’t without its share of controversy, as some players are unhappy with what they believe to be censorship of the game in a day-one patch that resulted in apetition to revertStellar Bladeback to its original version. While this controversy has gained some traction, the game could have been much more divisive if it had featured real-world brands on its collectible Cans.Death Strandingfell into this trap when it was first released back in 2019, resulting in a degree of immersion being broken for players thatStellar Bladesuccessfully sidesteps.
Stellar Blade’s Can Collectibles Don’t Feature Real-World Brands Like Death Stranding
WhenDeath Strandingwas first released, many players took issue with the bizarre choice to include Monster Energy drinks as product placement within the game. While resting in a private room along their journey,Death Strandingplayers can drink a can of Monster Energyto gain a temporary stamina boost. Mechanically, this feature is fine enough, but the decision to include a real-world brand deal in a very visible part of the game was immersion-breaking for a lot of players, who criticized Kojima Productions for this choice.
While Monster Energy drinks were present in the original release ofDeath Stranding, the Director’s Cut version updated these cans to feature an original, in-universe Bridges branded energy drink.
Stellar Bladealmost fell into this same trap, as developer Shift Up toldGame Informerthat they considered using real brands like Pepsi or Coca-Cola for the game’s collectible Cans. However, the developer was not able to secure a brand deal and instead opted to have an artist create original, in-universe brands for the game’s 49 Cans. This decision ended up being the right one as it allowed these collectibles to shine on their own instead of feeling like tacky product placement.
Why Fictional Brands Help Stellar Blade’s Collectibles Stand Out
Given how immersion-breaking seeing a real-world brand like Monster Energy appear inDeath Strandingwas,Stellar Bladegoing in the opposite direction with its in-universe branded Cans serves to build the lore surrounding the game’s world rather than break it. When EVE first discovers these Cans, she has a conversation with Lily where she tells EVE that they were old-world containers used to store electrolyte solutions that people would drink. This description of soda and energy drink cans shows just how far removed theworld ofStellar Bladeis from modern-day civilization and helps give players a frame of reference for the characters' views of the world.
These collectible Cans are also a unique source ofcharacter development for EVE, as her fascination with them reveals an interesting side of her personality. The Cans also allow EVE to bond with Lily, as she builds a display case for them back at Xion for the two of them to admire. It is far more interesting to see these unique fictional brand logos than it would have been to collect 49 branded Cans, especially for completionists and players trying to unlock all of EVE’s outfits.
