An independent game developer from Poland throws fire into the already heating controversy surrounding the video game industry and its role in real-life physical violence with the release of the first trailer of a new game where the only objective is to murder as many innocent possible and every police officer that tries to interfere in what seems to be a killing spree fueled by nothing but pure hatred.
In fact, that's the name of the game. Destructive Creations' "Hatred" trailer is only a minute and a half long, but it's long enough to tell viewers what it's all about. The isometric shooter game, as its creator describes, is filled with "a disturbing atmosphere of mass killing, where player takes the role of a cold blood antagonist who is full of hatred for humanity."
The trailer opens with the game's antagonist, whose name we don't know as it really doesn't matter. The only thing that matters, however, is that this long-haired, black-clad character is full of vile hatred for the world and the "human worms feasting on its corpus." The whole diatribe takes place as he's loading his weapons before going out to execute the most brutal murders on random bystanders and the police.
"Hatred" has already provoked a mixed bag of reactions, with one side openly expressing disgust for the game being marketed proudly as a mass murder simulator, and the other side mentioning other games such as "Fallout" and "Grand Theft Auto" as touting the same level of violence as "Hatred." Destructive Creations, however, seems unfazed and actually loves the controversy its trailer has so far generated. The publisher is encouraging its followers on its Facebook page to "bring it everywhere and let the haters hate!"
On its website, the Polish company says it came up with "Hatred" as a response against the rise of "politically correct" trends in the gaming industry, the most prominent of which is what some gamers have dubbed the rise of "social justice warriors" fighting the traditional, and usually sexist, way in which women are portrayed in video games.
"These days, when a lot of games are heading to be polite, colorful, politically correct and trying to be some kind of higher art, rather than just an entertainment - we wanted to create something against trends. Something different, something that could give the player a pure, gaming pleasure," writes Destructive Creations on its website.
As mentioned, "Hatred" is not the first brutally violent game of its kind, but it sets itself apart from many other combat games as it seems to exist purely to test the limits on what could or could not be considered acceptable in the industry. Unlike "Grand Theft Auto" and "Fallout", for instance, "Hatred" goes out of its way to be extremely brutal, making the savage killing of innocents at the front, center and back of the game instead of being included as a diversion or an act that could be punished with, say, losing quests in "Fallout."
The game's reason for existence has become so questionable, in fact, that Epic Games, maker of the Unreal Engine platform on which "Hatred" was built, has actively sought to dissociate itself from the game. In a statement made by Epic Games, it says it has asked Destructive Creations to remove the Unreal Engine 4 logo from its "Hatred" trailer and from all other materials used to market the video.
"Following their request, I've removed it from the YouTube version and will remove it from the press version of our trailer ASAP so everyone is happy," says Destructive Creations director Jaroslaw Zielinski in an email.
Below is the controversial trailer for "Hatred." Readers have been warned of the graphic nature of the trailer.
