Little Devil Inside (PS5)

[Julius]

Quote

Little Devil Inside is an action-adventure RPG with survival elements set in an atmospheric, semi-open world. The trailer reveals new scenes, monsters and glimpses of gameplay in various environments.

The other indie game for me that stood out and I'm really interested in. 

[drahkon]

Not sure this game warrants two threads @Julius but it does look nice

[Julius]

25 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Not sure this game warrants two threads @Julius but it does look nice

It absolutely does, I don't know what you're talking about  ...does a mod mind helping me out with a thread merge here please? Not sure how I cloned it but I did, my bad 

As you mentioned here and as @Sheikah mentioned in the other thread I made, loving the art style. Simple but effective, and the sense of scale for some of the shots in the trailer were great. Also, some funny visual gags. 

Look forward to seeing more!

[drahkon]

The devs apologized for what others have called a "caricature of indigenous and tribal people".

I don't even know what to say.

[Fierce_LiNk]

They've apologised and the statement sounded very sincere. They've made a mistake and have recognised why it was insensitive, and are going to change it. Seems like a sensible resolution, to me. 

[drahkon]

I really don't see what they need to apologize for?

 

[Fierce_LiNk]

15 minutes ago, drahkon said:

I really don't see what they need to apologize for?

 

It's an African stereotype. You've got the dreadlocks, the dark skin, the big red lips, the clothing, the item in the hand that looks like a joint, the sharp teeth to make them look like savages. I didn't spot this in the trailer because I only saw it the once and must've missed it, but I think that they are doing the right with altering the design. The more I look at it, the more I think that there is that people could take issue with. It's a sensible move, rather than leaving it the way that it is and risking the backlash. It will pay off better for them in the long run. I don't imagine that it will compromise their vision of the game too much.

[Julius]

31 minutes ago, drahkon said:

I really don't see what they need to apologize for?

From what I've read elsewhere about it, some feel that it harkens back to a time in early Hollywood when caricatures of Africans depicted them as savages, with the features of tribal masks exaggerated to extreme degrees for comedic purposes (such as massive lips).

EDIT: @Fierce_LiNk actually points out some of the other issues, such as the dreadlocks, which I think could be taken as being more direct than perhaps any of the other features - considering that in particular is certainly connected to a certain racial background historically, I think is probably the strongest case for this being innocent ignorance on behalf of the developers, but nothing more. I'll leave the rest of my post as it was because I do feel like some of it could still prove for some fruitful discussion./EDIT

Personally, I don't see it.

Now I'm not an African person so maybe the context is completely lost on me, or it was too long ago for me to be acquainted with such images, but I feel like there's a lot of virtue signalling going on in a lot of places over this, mostly because of what's going on at the moment, from non-African/dark skinned peoples. I read some of the posts on Reddit and ResetEra about it and people of colour are questioning what the issue is just as much as I was. 

Again, if this has genuinely offended people, then I absolutely agree that it needs to be taken down and either removed or altered. Good on the developers for being proactive about that and getting a response out there. 

I think my greatest concern relating to this would be, well, if there is even a place where the idea of "tribal savages" are even allowed anymore, which I think is perhaps a greater issue for society at large. If these were aliens wearing masks it would be viewed as painting tribal people as aliens, something we don't understand, and are thus scared of; similarly, if they were fair skinned I'm sure there would be an uproar over the developers mocking African tribes and painting them white. 

It's a curious thought for me, but I feel like we're getting to this dangerous stage of self-censoring as a society where practically anything in fiction, in any medium, is teetering on the edge of controversy.

Female main character? Clearly a Mary Sue, aiming for a wider demographic, or an example of toxic feminism. A character is LGBTQ+, dark skinned, or part - or from - any other minority group/background? Obviously a token character. That character acts a way that is contextualised in the story where they do a bad deed? The author/creator is a racist/homophobic/anti-feminist, etc., obviously painting the entirety of that group as being that way because one character acts in such a way. 

Again, that's probably total conjecture, but I'm curious to know what everyone else thinks about this and controversy regarding similar cases. 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Julius

[Happenstance]

5 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

the item in the hand that looks like a joint,

I get the rest but that has to be a blowpipe right?

[Fierce_LiNk]

6 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I get the rest but that has to be a blowpipe right?

Eurogamer mentioned this too. It is meant to be a blowpipe, but also comes across as looking like a joint, too. Just looking at it, I sorta see it.

I'm back and forth on this one. I think the sensible course of action would be, that if there's any doubt, just play it safe. I don't believe the intention was to be outwardly racist (and I don't consider it racist, but maybe insensitive), but at the very least it's a bit of an outdated-stereotype that could be avoided. 

 

[drahkon]

I still don't understand the outrage. But maybe that's because I don't think of tribal/indigenous people as savages no matter how they are portrayed?

Anyways, it's just very confusing to me how it's impossible to say or present anything without risking a backlash these days.

Also...the thing that the little guy holds in his hand looks nothing like a joint

Edited June 14, 2020 by drahkon

[Jonnas]

Stereotyping can be fine, but demeaning stereotypes of African tribes have been done so much in English-speaking countries, that people can be on edge over such things. The recent attitude/trend is to have a more nuanced portrayal of African-looking folk (especially since Black Panther).

That said, this looks like a very inoffensive case (yes, that is absolutely a blowpipe, you see it being used in the trailer), as it does not resemble the demeaning stereotypes that much. If I were to take a guess, I think the red lips was the thing that pushed it over the edge. Honestly, I think the way they were acting in the trailer was more severe than anything in the screenshot. Hard to say what it was, really, because the apology was unprompted, from what I hear.

(P.S.: That is absolutely a blowpipe, you see in the trailer. And even if it looked like a joint (it looks more like a cigarette, anyway), such things are largely unrelated to the "African savage" stereotype)

Just now, drahkon said:

But maybe that's because I don't think of tribal/indigenous people as savages no matter how they are portrayed?

In the trailer, they looked and acted a lot like Gru's Minions. Are you sure they don't resemble those savages, at least?

[Ronnie]

You can't do or say anything without someone getting outraged these days, a really sad time. A lot of people seem to thrive on kicking up a fuss, which is the saddest thing. 

In this case it's a shame because the character design is great. But I guess relatively speaking this probably steps over the line a tad more than most things.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Ronnie

[Will]

I imagine the team behind this had a very innocent idea for some sort of tribal scenario in the game and this is the design that came together. It’s a Korean team who have probably been influenced by old western stereotypes without realizing it and it never even crossed their minds to think about how it could potentially be viewed. Add in to the mix the current situation and it’s definitely better for them to get ahead of it and show they’re trying to improve things than wait for it to potentially become something much bigger.

Hopefully it doesn’t have any negative impact on the title, it’s one that I thought looked pretty cool.

[Cookyman]

I hope Frank Sidebottom doesnt find the main characther a *deameaning sterotype of northern musicians who wear round masks on their head.  

*He won't as he's dead.  

[Julius]

Holy what?! It lives!!!

Quote

Dear all,

Began with a dream of two brothers.
You supported.
We became a team, then grew into a company and tried many hands to make light work.

Along the way in all efforts to making a great game, many great people have come and gone.
People with respectable but different purposes and pursuits.

In sharing these differences and thoughts, we were sometimes touched and moved and sometimes in conflict.
We are responsible for not being able to embrace the differences.

And of course, sincere apologies to you all.

So now, we're back to a smaller, bonded team with a single, common purpose - just to make a great game.

And all our core founding and starting members still here with the duty and conscience to fulfill what we set out to do.

We know this doesn't and shouldn't justify for all the delays and lack of news but we're still here, have been and always will be.

Equipped with one tide turning fact - having gone the long way around, we are stronger. Much stronger.

We have genuinely started discussions regarding publishing and once this clears out, hopefully we'll be able to answer what everyone wants to know.

Here, we've just strung together a series of gameplay clips representative of what we have been working on in the UE5 engine.

Thank you all.
For everything.

We've not forgotten. Never will.

And it looks wonderful. Happy to wait for this! 

Edited February 21 by Julius