NUCLEAR THRONE BLACK SWORD SKIN

Thanks to her health buff and Crystal Shield, she can hold her ground against enemy damage and push further into the game than other mutants. But throughout Nuclear Throne’s Early Access development, Crystal quickly became one of the most popular characters for Daily Runs. Players earn a high score by pushing as far into the game as possible, killing the Nuclear Throne and looping multiple times. In the Nuclear Throne community, players regularly compete against one another in Daily Runs-preset level seeds that rank players’ abilities based on the amount of kills they rack up during play. Yet Crystal isn’t just a good starting character. Compared to her fellow mutants, Crystal is essentially a walking tank-perfect for newcomers who can barely get through the first level. She starts with 10 hit points and possesses a Crystal Shield that can deflect oncoming bullets, flames, toxins, and orbs. In Nuclear Throne, Crystal is easily the most durable player character in the entire game. Both artists portray their women characters in a variety of shapes and sizes, focusing more on features that reflect their personalities than their physical figures. Her blocky arms and stone face stress her durability as a character in the wastelands.

NUCLEAR THRONE BLACK SWORD SKIN

And Chan depicts Crystal with hardened, shiny skin that reflects the world around her. Her scarf is colorful and lively, stressing Rebel’s individuality when compared to her fellow bandit’s handkerchiefs. Veer, for instance, draws the player’s attention to Rebel’s blue scarf fluttering in the wind. Instead, pixel artist Paul Veer and promotional artist Justin Chan accentuate physical features related to their characters’ personalities. Yet Nuclear Throne strays away from this kind of character design. There’s very little diversity in women’s body sizes in gaming, as most playable ladies are tall and skinny, with large hips and unrealistic curves. Mass Effect’s Shepard is designed as a slim, curvy character who easily slips into her form-fitting N7 gear.

Samus Aran sports a prominent hourglass figure in her Power Suit. This is important to point out, because large and bulky women are rare in video games. In other words, while most of Nuclear Throne’s mutants are animals or humanoids, Crystal is quite literally a rock. She’s thick, she’s short, she’s purple, and she’s stocky. But Crystal stands out in comparison to her fellow player characters.

She spends her time on the character select screen shining her purple skin and sitting alongside her friends as Fish sings the opening theme. Hardened SkinĪs one of the original five mutants from the 2013 Wasteland Kings prototype, Crystal is available to the player from the very start of Nuclear Throne. So instead of discussing only one character, I’ve decided to return to Nuclear Throne in order to explore each of the game’s four women protagonists. After all, Vlambeer’s upcoming rogue-lite features multiple playable ladies-from a sword-wielding chicken, to an elite interdimensional police officer of color. She’s exactly the kind of heroine that challenges Western views on femininity, and the sort of protagonist that many women would like to see in the gaming industry.īut what about Nuclear Throne’s other women characters? It would be a disservice to the game to simply focus on Rebel. Last month, I wrote about the ways in which Rebel from Nuclear Throne is an ambitious, risk-taking adventurer who leads her fellow allies into danger for her own personal benefit.

Nuclear throne black sword