2012 2D anime fighter Skullgirls is underneath siege by some followers after a current replace made micro-adjustments to scantily clad ladies and removed Nazi symbols amongst a number of different tweaks to the last decade outdated recreation. The tweaks led to evaluation bombing on Steam and claims by followers that the small adjustments have one way or the other essentially altered the sport’s DNA.
Modeled after Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and set in a post-WWII period with loads of allusions to European fascists, Skullgirls and its communityhave been no stranger to controversy and scandal. Most notably, the sport switched studios in 2020 after the top developer of the group that initially created it was accused of misconduct for making inappropriate sexual remarks.
Of course, Skullgirls itself has additionally had loads of questionable content material, starting from customary anime attractive to creepy or probably offensive artwork, which the brand new group has now determined to replace in some infinitesimally small methods because it continues engaged on stability patches and ports of the Skullgirls 2nd Encore model of the sport.
Published on June 26, Skullgirls’ latest patch notes listing stability change in addition to “alterations” to a bunch of in-game artwork and scenes, together with eliminating Nazi-like armband symbols, making some feminine fighters barely much less overtly objectified, and jettisoning sure racial references. The devs then made a protracted put up explaining their reasoning behind the inventive shift.
With the Nazi allusions, for instance, Skullgirls present devs write, “We felt that the way that manifested (most notably via red armbands, flags, and symbolism) was too close for comfort – especially given the unfortunate reality that some of these hate groups are still active in various respects to this day.”
Regarding sure sexualized depictions, the devs write, “While Skullgirls is no stranger to characters that confidently express their sexuality, there are instances in the game where characters are fetishized and/or have sexualization imposed upon them.” They additionally particularly name out sure examples of “unwanted predatory behavior, particularly towards younger characters.”
A YouTube video by LalitoTV (through PC Gamer) runs by means of many of the adjustments in about two minutes, and making an attempt to identify most of them is like wanting by means of a Where’s Waldo puzzle ebook. In one story mode scene the BDSM vibes are simply barely toned down by not blindfolding a personality, the place one other character’s Cronenburgian transformation now now not features a spot that appears like a lady’s butt lined by white underwear. In a tentacle scene, a personality’s butt is roofed with extra tentacles to cover her underwear.
These are the variations which have now led to a minimum of 600 new damaging opinions of the sport on Steam, some from individuals who have barely performed the sport, and a flurry of feedback on the Discussion web page like “can a 10-year old game be refunded” and “are you confident in the future of gaming?” Meanwhile, a put up asserting the replace on Twitter has turn into a battleground between players complaining that the sport is being censored and people dunking on the absurd outrage. Some gamers even suppose Skullgirls devs haven’t gone far sufficient in making adjustments to the sport, like for instance lastly making each sexualized character in it clearly over the age of 18. But for now, the studios have apparently stated all they’re going to say on the topic.
“We of course realize that some members of the Skullgirls community may disagree with these changes, either in terms of how we chose to address them or whether they were in fact issues that warranted addressing in the first place,” they wrote of their replace. “Please know that all of these choices have been made following careful consideration and lengthy discussion amongst all members of the current development team. Beyond this post, we do not intend to discuss the particulars of these changes further.”
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