Indie Game 'Little Devil Inside' Draws Backlash After Some Claim Racist Enemy Design
During Sony’s event last week where the new PlayStation 5 console was revealed alongside dozens of new games, one interesting indie title from a company based in Seoul caught the attention of many online for its unique art style and concept. Over the weekend, however, Little Devil Inside drew the ire of some online after a user claimed a particular clip showing off one of the game’s enemies portrayed “racist stereotypes.”
Despite positive reception for the game initially, several took to social media in the past few days and pointed out what they felt were racist or stereotypical caricatures of black, indigenous tribal people wearing loincloths with dreads, big red lips and blowguns that some said looked like joints.
On Friday, Twitter user and Twitch streamer LordBalvin was one of the first to comment on the design, and said, “I was so excited for Little Devil Inside. Then I noticed these enemy types. bruh.” He continued the thread and added, “It's not up to me to decide the intentions here, it could just be a tone deaf character design. but this shows you need some insight from indigenous and/or black people in the room.”
PikaChulita, another user who commented on Twitter, further explained the reasoning behind some of their issues and stated, “Well the problem is the dreads, the lips, & basically just this being a rendition of a black/African tribal character. Its a racist caricature lmao. There's a way of depicting indigenous tribes or tribal people without portraying a caricature. The lips, the dreads-those are stereotypes.”
Others joined in the thread and questioned these claims, such as AfroChamp who replied, “Why is this bad?” to which dabbingyeeter responded, “Dreads apparently mean they're black and since they're enemies it's racist. Twitter is full of fragile, closeted racists.”
Following the backlash, the game’s developers, Neostream, addressed the criticisms and posted an apology on the Little Devil Inside Facebook page and stated, “Racist stereotypes of any kind were absolutely not intended, we were not aware of the stereotypical connotations and wish to apologize to anyone who may have been offended by the character design. In addition, no one (not just limited to team members) has ever commented or hinted on the character designs. However, these characters have not been revealed publicly elsewhere prior to the event.”
The devs said that they plan to remove the dreadlocks, change the lips and skin tone, as well as “tweak the dart blower so it looks less like a joint,” though they may completely redesign the enemies entirely to address concerns.
The post on Facebook quickly reached over 500 comments from users, with the top coming from Pietro Spina who said, “If you feel the need to apologize, it's ok. Going the extra mile to change the game feels unnecessary. Everyone deserves respect, and that also includes you.” Fabian Roldan also commented, “I just can´t believe someone got offended, if you guys change it, you are going to contribute and perpetuate this stupidity of entitlement and political agendas, don´t change it and don´t apologize. The game looks awesome, keep faithful to your vision, and keep the good work.”
The debate also reached Reddit on Sunday after Redditor GachiRainD posted an article to the r/KotakuInAction sub under the title “Little Devil Inside Devs Apologize For ‘Racist’ Enemy Design And Will Change Them because some twitter snowflakes started whining.” Redditor SufferableKant replied with the top comment, which read, “As someone who lives in Africa, boo hoo hoo. I swear, these people would probably starve to death if they didn't find something utterly inane to complain about three times a day. And it's a right shame the studio is kowtowing to them. The game actually looked mildly interesting. Alas.”
Share Pin
Aztecelotl
If i was with any of those idiots, i would say:
"Hey, fuck off. You don't even know what really are those people"
VinchVolt
Personally speaking, I can see where people are coming from in regards to the whole "savage native" stereotype, but the coloration of the mask isn't really something I think factors into it too much given that it's more evocative of standard clown imagery than blackface imagery. Regardless, I anticipate the end result of this will be something akin to what we saw with Skull Kid in Zelda, where the character only has the stuff people objected to removed and is made to resemble something that isn't a live human.
IAmTheDanger
It's witch hunting season.
Crystal Geyser
So is Uka Uka from Crash racist because it's a mask?
What about those bad guys from Viva Pinata, they where masks, they must be racist too.
Let's not forget the entire island of Karamja in Runescape, there's tribes there, they wear masks AND have big shields like the Zulu! Jagex is racist.
Fuck this gay Earth.
A Concerned Rifleman
You know there is a racisim problem in this country. It's due to a large group of middle-class bourgeoisie who see other minorities as a tool they can use to beat people around with.
Dracorex
I certainly hate being told by alt left people that I should be offended by 'racist' stereotypes about Latinos.
RemChi
ITS RACIST
"Against Indigenous People!"
Which
"The… The…. uh…black ones?"
TerribleTrike
YeetYeetAwoo
Exactly how is this racist?
Lord DIO
I saw nothing racist about it before reading this and I still don't. People need to stop looking for racism that isn't there.