'Tales Of Kenzera: Zau' Director Addresses "Constant Targeted Harassment"

I think there are some gamers who have dislike or narrow mindset with non Caucasian / European character looking and they addressed their complaints to the game creator in aggressive way.
That's very bad attitude.
I mean, the African / Asian / any race looking peoples are beautiful.
I like the dark skinned peoples looking too.

I don’t get how people still act this way. Good on this developer for not being afraid.

I'm holding out for a physical copy, but if it never comes ill probably buy a digital copy just to support the developer. It's obvious he's put his heart and soul into this project and the game looks beautiful and fun to me.

This game wasn't on my radar. It still isn't. This year has been backlog year for me, and I've been having a great time.

I don't know how much truth is in this and frankly life's too horrible at the moment for me to want to find out how horrible some people are being to someone else, but there has been shocking behaviour in the past from some in the gaming community which has played up to the worst stereotypes gamers are accused of. I'm thinking of death threats against developers for not delivering dlc on time, threats of sexual violence against women for daring to make a game that didn't align with the player's vision etc, and it's all disgusting.

If you don't like a game for any reason, don't play/buy it. Voting with your wallet has always been the most effective way to implement change in a capitalist society.

Even the comments on the review of the game are full of people offended by the game daring to exist and whining about something something woke so yeah, what he's describing is obviously actually happening. The vocal minority's constantly screeching any time a game dares have someone who isn't a white straight cis man in it in a position of prominence.

Wasn’t this game caught up in the Sweet Baby Inc boycott drama?

It's another, rather mediocre, Metroidvania in a sea of Metroidvanias. It's also not the only game in the genre recently released with a black protagonist, since Prince of Persia The Lost Crown came out not too long ago. Even the price isn't that exceptional when you can get Hollow Night and Ori for the same or less on a regular basis.

He's in an uphill battle to find success and frankly I don't believe it's racism that is causing most of the difficulty. It does make for a convenient scapegoat though.

Even the comments made here reveal how bad and insensitive some people are. I really feel sorry for people who think like that. I hope they somehow find the right path in their later years.

@JohnnyC I think the 'if you don't like it, don't play it/buy it' is part of the issue here. And it makes this sort of video response futile.

Most likely the tepid sales reception is due to oversaturation of Metroidvanias, but if it really is racism what can be done? We can't force them to open their wallets.

I play video games to escape reality. I do not need political, religious, personal beliefs from the developers put into my games. I do not care if I play a man or woman, what color they are, I just care if it’s a good game. How many games do we play as an animal, I guess that’s a PETA issue. If you want to involve yourself in these types of discussions, then you are the issue.

The more lines we have up infront of us, the more divided we are.

The craziest part about this is him saying that the prize of a pizza is $15/$20

More diversity in games is by and large a very good thing. Like with many things, there also exists downsides to journalists and studios being eager to implement diversity that are legitimate to discuss. As long as it is done in a constructive and respectful manner. For example when historical authenticity and diversity does not align in games where historical authenticity is wanted.

This however has nothing to do with that. If people are criticizing and harassing a developer over a game in an African fantasy setting having an African protagonist because of supposed "wokeness", then that is really taking this "culture war" rubbish into a new low. I don't really know what to say about that. Touch some grass?

It's very difficult to know the real truth in business, but I can't help but think this is more of an advertisement campaign by the game maker.

The reviews for this game range from average to slightly above average. That is to say in a very crowded field of metriodvanias this got lost in the shuffle for me. Unfortunately you either have to be very good or very bad to be memorable, has anyone on here played the game?

@glennthefrog However offensive a person's private opinions/beliefs might be, they're entitled to hold them. What I struggle with is where those views are forced on others. I'm fine with healthy discussion along the lines of "please consider..." on either side of a topic, but where the tone is more "how dare you..." then it immediately is a debate I'm not interested in as the intention is to be provocative and emotional rather than rational and reasonable. As you say, people are entitled to choose not to buy a form of entertainment if they find it's content objectionable or for any reason.

For me personally, I'm not interested in it because I've got more games to play than I've probably got gaming time left in my life at this point, so I no longer buy games unless it's something I'm determined to make time to play through and frankly this game doesn't look anything special to me. Like every other game, I read the reviews, watch the online footage and try to make an informed decision as to whether something is for me or not. At the end of the day they're just games though, and a hundred years from now nobody's going to care at all which ones we played or didn't. They're certainly not worth abuse or threats of violence.

You all justifying "constant targeted harassment" really need to get a grip. I don't care what the situation is, racism is racism and I picked my side a long time ago.

The upside of these comments sections is that they show me who I can safely ignore without hesitation. I don't need your input and we aren't friends if you rationalize racism against another person for X stupid reason. peace ✌️

@-wc-
Yep, this thread is very good to block people who use pathetic rethoric just to justify the worst things possible.

@TAndvig
I've played both Ori 1 & 2 100% and so far, ZAU have NOTHING in common aside for being a Metroidvania.

Anyone claiming that this is a Ori clone is a flippin' moron. At this point, why don't they claim Metroid copied Sacred Armor of Antiriad on the Amstrad CPC ?

Two things can be true at once:

1. DEI/forced diversity isn’t the solution. Let the cream rise to the top, regardless of who it is.

2. People don’t need to be jackasses and personally attack anyone.

I appreciate authenticity in gaming. If this game takes place in Africa or is about African history/mythology, then I fail to see how it’s pushing an inclusive narrative just because it has a black protagonist. Nor do I see how it’s forcing diversity. It’s literally just being accurate. And moreso, who cares if the protagonist of a game is a different color, sex, or even species than you? Thats the joy of video games. Taking an avatar on an adventure that you probably can’t do yourself in real life.

I feel these people triggered by the game are the same ones who don’t want minorities or the opposite sex playing roles in film and tv that they believe are already “determined” to be white (little mermaid comes to mind). Yet now a game exists that isn’t about a white dude and they’ve lost their minds about it because it’s “being too inclusive”. 🙄🙄🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

It looks like Sweet Baby Inc were consultants on this game. I do not think diversity is a threat, I love diversity. I think games can bring people together and games should be for everyone. I think racism is wrong. All forms of racism, against all races. I can't buy something associated with Sweet Baby Inc.

@Donutman I'm not sure if this was the intention but you made it sound like all games should be designed with you in mind. You stated that 'I do not need political, religious, personal beliefs from the developers put into my games' - the problem with that argument is that they are not your games, they are the developers and if they want to explore any of those topics they are entitled to. Admittedly, it might not sell as much but thats up to the developers.
Maybe I misunderstood your point, and rather that you agree that games with these concepts should exist but it's just you won't buy them?

CRAZY how a fictional game inspired by cultures offends those who don't look like him. Everyone is allowed to develop what they want! If you don't like it, don't BUY it! So sick and tired of gatekeepers. Just let minority devs develop what they want.

"Implicit bias" is deadly.

Baffling why people feel the need to send hate his way. A lot of people hold a lot of hate in their little brains.

The first thing I want to know in an article like this is, "How bad actually is it?" Because when claims like "harassment" are made, I am instinctively skeptical. So many people (especially in government, in my line of legal work as a civil rights & transparency lawyer) exaggerate any criticism they receive to the level of "harassment" that the term nearly loses all meaning. I am constantly telling both my clients and adversaries, "No, that's not harassment."

But the way this story is reported, and the way the comments are "moderated" gives me no idea at all whether this really is nasty ***** behavior or it's being exaggerated.

I played this game on ps5 with the plus subscription. It's really good. I agree with others that there are too many Metroidvanias, but the game is very sharp, good-looking, good-controlling game. The protagonist does cry a bit too much, and introduces most concepts right at the beginning, which is questionable game design - Overall, the game is quite good.

I know that many people are quick to cry racism over anything, but in this case, I think the director is on point. So many folks are just writing off a game because they think it's "forcing DEI" upon them. Like, bro, literally nobody is making you buy or play this game if you don't want it.

@rvcolem1 I've played it and loved it. It's a really gorgeous game. Gameplay-wise it's different enough to not be a cookie-cutter metroidvania but it's not revolutionary. I'd balk if it was a $60 game, but for $20 (now $15)? Absolute bargain.

@IceClimbersMain To be fair he lives in London and it probably is £15 to £20 for a pizza there

@Kalcheus Ok cool, I just got "capes" and that crab souls game so maybe once I get through those I'll give it a try.

@FantasiaWHT As a lawyer in your line of work, the dismissive nature you have towards your clients is pretty shocking. Also, as a lawyer you should know this is a private website and if the owners don't want to see people spew vitriol, they don't have to. The things I've seen on here about this game is shocking. The things I've seen all over the Internet about it are just various conspiracy theories and accusations. People have had it out for this game from the start, there was never a chance for this game to succeed because a bunch of Internet celebrities decided it was the punching bag of the day.

Sadly, even in 2024, many people continue to fear African culture and folktales due to persistent stereotypes. This is evident in the scarcity of positive portrayals of Africa in Western media. The few well-received media representations, such as Disney's The Lion King, DreamWorks' Madagascar 2, and Marvel's Black Panther, cannot truly be considered African-focused. The Lion King is more of a fable, Madagascar 2 is a light-hearted animal comedy, and Black Panther is a typical Marvel blockbuster. There is a pressing need for more authentic representations of Africa to show the world that it is far more than a jungle continent filled with stereotypical images.

Is it the same people that ten years ago were very vocal on how black people should be able to relate just fine to white video game protagonists, or else black people ought to make their own games, who now see black protagonists from black creators as an issue?

If so, that's both funny and tragic.

@SodaPop6548 is the creator is blaming an unfinished game on the gamer.
Even though The story of his father was heartbreaking.
But the game looked unfinished and
Hit detection was also awfull.

@Lizuka If you CTRL F search woke in he review, you will notice that those that used that word there are whining about the anti-woke crowd, and one dude saying he is not there to spout do not buy woke products. And the anti-woke crowd is perfectly able to enjoy games without white male characters. For example, Dead or alive xtreme 3 is all female, plus one black dude you don’t play as.Another example would be Senran Kagura. All characters are Japanese asians, and all playable characters are female.

@Tupin My job also includes telling my clients when they are wrong and should change their behavior or their perspective. Be glad for attorneys willing to do that. I'm also fully aware this site can moderate how it sees fit. Where did you get the idea that I'm claiming they can't? I'm saying their reporting would be better if they would tell us what actually was being said rather than just reporting the developer's reaction to it, and also their moderation makes it impossible to tell just how bad these comments really are. I would suggest they have the option to click to reveal what was written rather than delete it.

@Pod There will always be an excuse because they don't want certain groups involved in gaming in any context, ever.

Very weird that the game being good or selling well or whatever is even in the conversation because if the game was a flaming train wreck it wouldn’t justify harassment of developers.

Buy it or don’t. Like it or don’t. But that’s never appropriate.

It’s also interesting to me when people care enough to complain endlessly about how much they don’t care. Usually I just ignore a game I find mediocre and move on with my life I don’t post about it every day shouting about how mediocre it is. Usually shows there is something else going on.

@FantasiaWHT If you don't punish unacceptable behavior, you encourage it. Again, you of all people should know that but it seems you have a pretty cynical and jaded view of what is unacceptable. I truly hope you aren't like this with all of your clients, and if you are, maybe your demeanor is better fit for another area.

Got the plat the other week. Truly a wonderful game.

@glennthefrog but the amount of outrage Crown had because the character did not look like prior protags and the game was great! I understand the scapegoat idea but I don't think this is one of those situations.

A lot just don't understand that this is a shared world and the internet has allowed us to see, like, and hate even more.

@somnambulance My local Pizza Hut still offers the $10 large with three toppings

I thought the game looked bad because the main character looks like a Disney character with a contemporary-ish hairdo. And because it kind of released unfortunately close to POP.

@IceClimbersMain @somnambulance I live in Portland, Maine. Non chain pizza is 15-25, dominoes is probably cheaper

And suddenly we're all talking about a game I didn't even know existed before this morning. Interesting how it all works.

@Tupin How do I know it was unacceptable behavior if nobody will tell me what it actually was?

@FantasiaWHT If it is bad enough that the owners of the site don't want it shown, it is unacceptable. Don't like it, go to another site or open your own. They don't have to explain things to you.

This is the exact opposite of the usual "This isn't for you" response that often gets cattily trotted out, and I applaud the developer for that.

If there's one thing that never fails to make me laugh, it's red pilled snowflakes that get loud at someone that doesn't look like them.

@Tobiaku
So your point is that that the anti woke crowd are capable of embracing soft core lesbian pornography? XD

I only play games where the protagonist looks like me *proceeds to play as potato in animal well

@Tupin I mean why would they when they have you to do it for them

It’s horrible that the dev team is being harassed. But I saw some of the senseless bigotry even here so I am not surprised. The game is quite fun and the setting and characters are cool and I wish the studio so much success. It’s horrible how many terrible people there are in the world who have nothing better to do than hurt others. Especially when the response is so disproportionate. Nobody gets mad when Japanese people make games about anything but oh hey a game that is African culture inspired is somehow bad.

i dont know if its true or not, it all sounds to me like that woman dev, who cried out loud how poor she is that noone wants to buy her game
might be a tactic to push sales for mediocre games
i'm an indie lover, play tons of indie games and a lot of them are hidden gems, but tons of others are just stolen ideas or even ripped off of other popular games, so no wonder some dont ever sell well
why would you buy a cheap copy, that isn't cheap, over the "real" stuff

if all of it is true its bad behaviour of ppl, but at the same time:
you are exposed to the public, you have to grow a thick skin, no matter your gender/race/whatever, ppl like to hate on stuff

People are calling the dev the n word openly on Twitter and people say there is no harassment lmao

I love games based on mythology. If I can learn about a culture and beliefs outside of gamings big three (Norse, Greek, Egyptian) I think that’s really cool. I also think playing as a character who isn’t like you is a great way to empathize with other people.

It's a fine game, short with an emotional story. Aesthetically pretty, good acting. Game is fun, fluid action. I got the platinum trophy on it on ps5. It's worth the price in my opinion. Is it the best game of all time? No. It's nice for a library though. But those saying he's making up the attacks are being willfully ignorant. I saw plenty of people attacking the studio before and after the game released. Like you don't even need to search for proof of what he's saying, you just need to look up the game.

@InnerSound i never said it isn't happening at all, i just said that a lot of ppl use stuff for pushing sales/agenda/beliefs and so on

as a child of immigrants i did feel the racism when ppl saw my name and assumed im like "everyone else"
and being upset is human nature and go for it, i wont forbid it

it's only that cases of low sales do love to get pushed with those public messages and it's happening more and more often

once again: if all of it is true and they get non stop attacked i haven't said anything

@InnerSound I used them as examples of games without straight white guys in them.
@AJWolfTill My point was they are able to enjoy games without straight white guys in them without screeching.

Isn't it sad?! As far as I know this game isn't even about ramming "the message" home, as some people call it nowadays. Instead, its just a guy who wants to show his culture inside a game, just as Never alone also showed a culture (a "snow people" culture, their real name is a bit hard for me to write. Difficult name). I actually find that refreshing. You get a different peak on the world, and why has every game to be exactly the same?

@Lizuka It's mental for thinking a game is woke for having a black protagonist, even though the game is set in Africa.

Honestly it has always been kinda hard to tell how big are these "harassment campaigns", maybe they are just being blew out of proportion to boost their image and promote their game. Like, I get it, at least a couple of people most likely went to send him private messages, but did a considerable amount of people do it? Or is he also counting internet conversations mocking him as harassment? He also Included the studio workers, I don't think there was that many people wanted to harass them considering the creator was the one that was on the center of every headline, but who knows.

I'm just saying, people in internet is quick to accept anything as a fact to validate their beliefs.

@RareFan Games with an African setting or inspiration are by far the best way to feature black protagonists, so if that's what people want I fully support it.

@AG_Awesome 100%. In the same way I would expect a game set in Europe to feature mainly white people, it's not a surprise when a game set in Africa features mainly black people.

@Tobiaku
Sure, but those games are 100% targeting straight dudes and I doubt any women would ever view those games as inclusive or positive representation?

Be honest with yourself, if they added a bunch of straight white male characters to a game about punching people's clothes off wouldn't that trigger the same people you are talking about for different reasons?

Reading the article and the comments, it's wild how many people are omitting the fact that most of the controversy came from the game being associated to Sweet Baby Inc.

@fenlix Why is it a bad thing to associate with people with whom you share your views to promote them?

@Henmii Anyone who wants to see cultures represented in videogames should absolutely try Tchia, not a perfect game at all but it was made with love by people from New Caledonia about their culture and it was soo cute and fun to be immersed in a culture that I may never visit and see myself.
Inclusivity in games is important and there are so many people who will appreciate these stories no matter whose story that may be.

@RupeeClock
A bunch of conspiracy theories about things like demanding Spiderman 2 had more pride flags and pressuring developers to change their white characters to other ethnicities. It doesn't seem to matter that developers responsible for the changes and journalists have denied a lot of this stuff.

@InnerSound
Yeah I think there is a certain amount of desensitization to a lot of this stuff in the otaku crowd. To be fair I would find it hilarious if they made Senran Kagura Bulge with a gender swapped cast.

@AJWolfTill The whole point I was making was that the anti-woke crowd is able to enjoy games without straight white dudes in them.

If I was a woman I would probably still enjoy these games.

To your second point, I think they would not necessary be triggered by it. If the dudes in for example Uppers lost their clothes I wouldn’t mind it any particulary.

@RupeeClock Amoung other things, the CEO of SBI thinks terrifying people is a good way to get what you want.
https://nichegamer.com/sweet-baby-ceo-terrify-them-if-game-devs-dont-push-diversity/

@KorenLesthe That's fine if you believe that. But several don't seem to share that sentiment, and couple that along with the extremely low player count on Steam, it's pretty obvious what's going on here. Instead of just admitting that the game didn't sell well, it's easier to create this whole narrative on the side to protect one's ego and hopefully getting publicity at the same time.

@Lunatic002 Solidarity is an effective way to push for sales.

If one doesn't want to be seen as a bigot, buy the product. That's all it takes.

@somnambulance About £10 ($13) for a 12” cheese pizza for me. Add delivery and it’s not far off of what Zau costs really

@Vivianeat The last paragraph of your post is key and was kind of what I was getting at with the scapegoat remark.

I don't doubt that developers do get harassed for dumb crap like this, but at the same time it's an extremely vocal minority who are truly vile. The vast majority of people not buying the game, whether it's Crown or Zau, are doing so because it simply doesn't look interesting.

The insinuation of his the video response is that the failure is by and large due to racists, or at least that his racist harassers represent a massive segment of the market. I find those two things extremely hard to believe. But that's been part of the playbook for a lot of failures by multimedia companies in the past decade, from giant conglomerates (Disney) to indie developers. Twitter isn't real life, nor is reddit, nor is discord. It's easy to get that hate in your DMs and say 'well, that's the reason this game/movie/show hasn't taken off, legions of racists have conspired against me'. When in reality in nearly every case it's a few dozen maladjusted youths ***** posting. Their voices are simply amplified so the 1/10,000 person seems like an army that constitutes a majority. Most consumers are neither far right or far left, they make their purchasing decisions based on what looks most interesting to them in the moment, not to promote or oppress any particular ideology or ethnic group.

@Jiggies Yeah, almost like the dev created a whole narrative to gain publicity without any ground or evidence. Not often we see that nowadays ... oh wait.

After seeing the reaction to Prince of Persia and the upcoming Assassin's Creed, I believe it. Plenty of knee-jerk racist reactions online to black characters, no matter the context.

That said, it's a little funny how the dude is acting like he's engaging in some benevolent act by pricing his indie Metroidvania in the same range that the majority of indie Metroidvanias launch at.

@AllieKitsune So people are obligated to financially support certain media or they can be assumed to be bigoted? That's not really a feasible standard.

@fenlix https://x.com/Abzybabzy/status/1797351040028680634

@AllieKitsune thats exactly my point, ye

@glennthefrog i've seen people get canceled, bc they didnt want to follow someones agenda, they wanted to be left alone, and received a ***** storm and got canceled for that

@Tupin " I only ask you to look at the YouTube comments, the steam forums, some of my QTs and even in the comments of the video itself. This, paired with the emails, messages and beyond make this assertion that harassment isn’t happening, or the requirement that we need to prove it, extremely hard to take on board."
He's actually also counting the hate toward the game itself as harassment, and didn't really mentioned harassment toward the other staff members. He's more talking about people saying "No harassment at all" while my comment is about 'how big these harassment campaigns actually are.

You can call it "being too cynical", but if someone with opposite beliefs said something similar without offering proof, one wouldn't have the same supportive reaction.

While the issues that the dev raises are genuine, the message is diluted by putting the game on sale at the same time.

@fenlix I've seen the Steam forum. Most of the comments are not even about the game, just racism. I see the harassment. They massively outnumber objective complaints about the game.

@-wc- obviously racism is abhorrent. I think the underlying problem is that people listen to anti-woke YouTubers or political pundits and then it becomes a fight against some "Woke-mind virus" and the majority of the people who engage in this behavior don't think of themselves as racist, but fighting the good fight against the powers that be that are ruining society.

The normal person like you and I see it and it looks like pure racism and hatred. The people facing the backlash experience it as hatred. But at the end of the day, I think it is an "Anti-SJW" crusade with people who don't realize or care the effects it has as long as they can win against the "conspiracy theory" that they have been convinced exists.

I don't think anyone is conspiring, but I do think some of the "woke" stuff has gone too far. The most obvious being the hurt that it is doing to boys around the world. But fighting against diversity in video games and other media is extremely dumb and just fuels the culture war that nobody wins, all of us lose.

@Tupin Please give examples as all I am seeing are criticisms pointed towards either the game's gameplay, design, acts, flow and such. (:

@TAndvig The most commented thread is one about Sweet Baby and people calling it woke.

I thought the black protagonist being a big deal was settled by CJ in San Andreas...unless there's something else I'm missing here? Is he pansexual or something?

@Busam86

hey, thanks for the thoughtful reply!

I think you are right about alot of what you say. Though, for me, anti-SJW crusaders taking the mantle of racism et al to fight "woke" at all costs, vs straight up card carrying racists is a distinction without a difference. 👍

I was curious, though.

"...some of the "woke" stuff has gone too far. The most obvious being the hurt that it is doing to boys around the world."

I might be dense: what is the harm of which you speak?

thanks! ✌️

@-wc- A couple things are at the top of the list for boys (and men) being hurt by wokeness. The first is that boys are falling behind girls in school by a lot. The second thing is that boys and young men are something like 4 times more likely to commit suicide. This isn't to say that girls aren't having a rough time though. I think more teenage girls are depressed than teenage boys. But I believe that the "woke" mindset does not care for the boy's and men's issues. It is just seen as toxic masculinity and there is some truth to it. But there is no real focus on how to better raise or prepare boys to be better people. It seems to just be "feminism" calling all men whatever name and just blaming the "patriarchy". I realize that this is also part of the terrible culture war that is going on now, but again I think that the wokeness comes in when it comes time to solve and help people. Society and the media just want to blame men, rather than work toward a fix. If you say that boys need fathers, there are plenty of people to speak up and say that is sexist because women can raise good boys.

I have heard a lot of these things, but I can't put the words or thoughts together in a good way and there is plenty that I don't understand. I had to consult Chat-GPT to construct these arguments, but I still don't fully understand it myself. One cool thing I heard though was that AI chat bots can actually help people who have fallen into radical ideologies or conspiracy theories. There's something about it not being a human and having lots of data that people seem to trust more. It's actually a great tool for getting informed.

I just found something fascinating. I looked up Kenzara on YouTube and all the comments talked about DEI or Sweet Baby Inc. Then I did a search for something like How Does Wokeism Hurt Boys. Then I navigated back to the Kenzara video and all the comments were about how the audience cheered loud when the Kenzara dev talked about single moms, but had no reaction to the many times he talked about his father. Google is literally changing what we see to keep us in our info silos. We already knew they did this with their algorithms, but I didn't realize it was also done with the comments sections.

I bought the game shortly after its launch, played through it, beat it 100%. It could have been made by a sweet baby or a sour grandpa, for all I care.

It was, to turn a phrase used today, "mid". Not terrible, but not great. There were some glaring flaws that brought down the end product, and I told Nintendo as such in the survey E-mailed to me. The worst part by far was the mandatory escape sequence near the end of the game, after the penultimate boss. It was much more difficult than any of the actual fights, requiring precision platforming and usage of all the tools in the game, but a lot of the difficulty in that was due to the game eating inputs and the ridiculous rubber-banding of the lava rendering it near-impossible to gain a sufficient lead on it. There was only one checkpoint, meaning that you had to go through the brunt of it again if you made one simple mistake (or, more often, if the game refused to recognize a button press). Tweaking the difficulty made no effect on this, as the hazards were lava or spikes and thus instant death. Difficulty like this was fine with the optional platform segments that awarded you Trinkets, but it should not have been on a mandatory sequence right after a boss fight in order to finish the game.

I also objected to the main character being lauded as "selfless" when he was clearly just undergoing his odyssey for the very self-serving reason that he was unable to accept that his father had passed on. Anyone he helped on his journey was just an incidental side-effect of this. He was courageous and resourceful, certainly, but his goals were less than noble; and I felt the game took a little longer than I cared for him or the narrative to acknowledge that.

Next, the presentation. If the game zoomed out enough and you were playing on a large enough screen, Zau's outline could blur into the background and made it hard to pinpoint his presence, which made things unnecessarily hard during tense fights or platforming sequences.

Finally, and this is likely exclusive to the Switch version (hadn't played the other platforms), the frame rate was passable normally but slowed to a crawl during moments like the Spirit Dance fight gauntlets or the aforementioned escape scene.

@Busam86

hey im at work and cant reply right now (fully,) but i read your comment and I commend you for taking a stab at what is admittedly a fraught topic that opens you up to criticism from others (on "both sides") in this public space 👍 im not sure i agree on the perceived causality 100% point-for-point, but youve phrased everything thoughtfully and with enough nuance that I think you covered the conversation as it stands pretty darn well! you took what could've been a "gotcha" question for some and continued the conversation forward in an intelligent way. cheers ✌️

While I'm sure there are at least some out there trolling just to troll. The problem for me is being the internet you can easily create anything with social media via sock puppet accounts, having other people you know troll you, you respond, they "troll back", you use go back to your sock puppet account to whack the beehive again, rinse and repeat.

It's a good way to create whatever narrative and most especially attention you want. Especially when it comes to selling something. There are actually various PR firms that have armies (literally, ARMIES) of bots that can do whatever you pay them to do. Anything from puffing you up to putting you down to work with the algorithms.

I knew someone at the gym that owned a private firm that did that for influencers especially in the fitness industry. Besides boosting follower numbers, you work with these firms to give you praise or "bully" you so then you can "clap back" at the haters and work those algorithms. If you do it right you can draw attention from the click bait farms like Yahoo, Buzzfeed, Vice, etc. for them to have some hack "journalist" make an article about you owning "the haters" or what an "inspiration" you are.

The "body positivity" influencer category is saturated with that. Celebrities do it all the time, too. If you go on Yahoo or any of those other click bait farms it's all you see. It's a machine of working algorithms as long as you got the green in your wallet.

So, with that while I don't doubt he may have received some trolling. I mean, welcome to the real world. However, this dude is selling something and race baiting used to be very lucrative. The small issue is it's not the "Summer of Love 2020" anymore and the average Joe has moved on. Perhaps if he was Israeli or something that might have generated more but even the media is slowing down on that (like how the Ukraine war went to the back burner).

Didn't Rocky say something about "It's not how hard you hit. It's about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward." Maybe he should ignore the keyboard warriors and live life. Unless he paid some PR firm and/or using the sock puppet accounts then by all means best of luck to you, dude.

Huh, it's funny because I saw this game recently in the Coming Soon and thought the art style looked cool but wouldn't play this as it's a Metroidvania and I'm not into those. Shame they're getting all that hate, but I'm not going to say I'm shocked unfortunately.

I do like the idea of fantasy-themed games as a concept branching out a bit from the usual medieval Europe-ish and feudal Japan-like settings. Just send me some games in genres I will play (lately mostly VNs, so perhaps a hard sell for devs, oops).

@Tobiaku Sorry, but you just said "White dudes don't mind playing games for white dudes." Like, duh?

Senran Kagura and DOA are made for the horny male gaze. While I enjoy playing the DOA fighting games, they're not what I'd call positive women's representation.

The way you said "plus a black dude that you don't play as." He has a name my dude. It's Zack, and he is an amazingly fun, Muay Thai fighter.

But none of these are examples of representation. They're stereotypes made for a specific demographic.

I'm not saying you need to play games you don't like, either, but their existence doesn't serve to attack the anti-woke crowd. Just don't buy them if you don't like them.

@Tobiaku Taking Niche Gamer as a source is a reason why you shouldn't be taken seriously. Half of their articles are complaining about "SJW" and "wokeness" conspiracies. You might as well as linked to some incel website.

The alt-right crowd has no problems with female characters as long as they look like supermodels, dress revealingly, and provide the player with lots of eye candy. They also have no problems with black and other minority characters as long as they confirm to existing stereotypes, with black characters being strong brutes and Asiatic characters being agile ninjas, as long as they're side characters. Everything else is "political", hence why it's okay for Nioh to star a white samurai, but Assassin's Creed Shadows having a black main character, based on an actual black samurai, is the end of the world.

As for SBI, they're simply a consultancy firm. Virtually every major corporation hire them as PR exercises and there is no evidence everything they suggest is implemented. The alt right crowd meanwhile act as if they're some shadowy company trying to force "wokeness" into game and are behind every poor decision developers do, even in areas they have no involvement in such as gameplay. Kinda like the same crowd pretending that George Soros has more influence than he actually wields and is behind every one of the world's, and their problems.

@Ganner "Race-baiting"? LOL the game is set in Africa, how dare it feature a black main character.

It seems your response to any form of racism and discrimination is "ignore it and it will go away". Yet most of the victories in real life against racist groups and policies are achieved via awareness campaigns and protesting to force those in power to listen and act. The fact that you, who don't even know the developer, automatically assume he's lying for PR speaks volumes.

There is literally video proof of SBI's co-founder speaking about terrifying companies. No one associated with SBI should be trusted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq86DnmX2xY

@PKDuckman Eh, it's just my two cents which in the grand scheme of things means nothing. Don't let me keep you up at night I'm a complete nobody. I have nothing against you or your stance.

I was just coming from what is common to see nowadays. Especially on the click bait farms. Not saying it's right or wrong. It will do the usual rounds. Whack the beehive and then fade away.

Let's be honest Nintendo Life is loving this because it's generating traffic for ad revenue. It's why they posted it and we all just go at it like moths to flame. When bills are due and/or the higher ups tell them to there will be another article for us to do this all over again. Maybe I'll see you there

Never heard of the game before now, but putting it on sale while making that post is definitely not a good look. At any rate, game looks mid as mid comes. Pass. Probably the most bloated genre at this point.

All I remember about this game is steam charts showed a low turn out at launch.

People not buying your games is not "harassment" 😒

@AeonicB I said the anti-woke crowd don’t mind playing games without white dudes in them. I’m anti-woke myself and like those games. I just used Dead or alive xtreme 3 and Senran Kagura as examples of games without white dudes the anti-woke crowd did not complain about. I forgot Zack’s name at the moment when I was writing the first replie. If you read @lizuka s comment I was responding too, they wrote "Even the comments on the review of the game are full of people offended by the game daring to exist and whining about something something woke so yeah, what he's describing is obviously actually happening. The vocal minority's constantly screeching any time a game dares have someone who isn't a white straight cis man in it in a position of prominence."

The point I was making are, we are able to enjoy games without straight white men.

@PKDuckman Nichegamer is good for the most part.
But @Sherlock- linked a video that also shows it.

Anti-woke is not the same as alt-right.
And even if it were, you gave examples of female and non-white characters they don’t complain about, which proves my point that they don’t ALWAYS complain when characters are not straight white men. Otherwise they would hsve complained about those female characters who looks like super models too, for not being white and male.

Just so you know, plenty of great games made in Japan with Japanese asian characters as main characters (not white) and they don’t even need to be ninjas.

I feel like buying the game now just to support the studio. Woke can be insufferable sometimes, but it has it's heart in the right place. Detractors from it are basically just arguing for being a d...

@IceClimbersMain 15 would be considered very cheap where I live. Store brought pizzas are 7 Euros, ordering them is usually 20+.

I don’t even get where the forced diversity complaints are coming from here.
The game is set in Africa so of course the main character is going to be African, what were people really expecting?

@HeeHo What we have here is dev VS publisher confusion. The dev just made his game, if EA chose to publish it for ulterior motives, that is probably forced diversity to some degree but has nothing to do with the dude who made it.
I've been accused of racism for saying we shouldn't pat game companies on the back for forcing diversity that should go uncommented upon in the natural course of events. I've been accused of being a sjw by people for saying it's probably better to remove swastikas from Japanese games where they were used casually, given their past affiliations with Nazi Germany.
Point being, people will find ways of accusing others of whatever they want, and claiming whatever they want. I also think Moonlight is one of the ten greatest films of all time, and imagine the backlash if I posted that on reddit. People are nuts.

My word, that’s a concerning level of removed comments…

I think in many ways, a good portion of humanity has gone backwards in the way they treat these kind of things.

Like going after something because it has diversity that is completely appropriate? Good grief…

I do think the word “woke” has become a buzzword that people throw about without entirely understanding what it means.

Like, what is so bad about treating everyone fairly? Because that’s what it should mean.

Sometimes something is labelled “woke” when it actually isn’t, because it’s gone too far in the opposite direction.

Just… be nice to people. It’s not that outlandish a concept, surely?

I do feel for death threats and targeted harassment, that devs need to have a site where these people are put on blast. For one the police can see if there is a pattern and for two, people lose courage when they face consequences.

1. All people should be kind and accepting to all other people.
2. The world is not nearly as bigoted as some people make it out to be — especially when it just so happens to benefit them to say so.

@Chlocean,

Yeah, that's a game I might try someday. It looks interesting.