(Photo courtesy of Destructive Creations)It’s exceedingly rare for a game to be rated “adults only” by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. To qualify, the game would need graphic content in the vein of pornography and violence. The majority of games rated adults only have made the list due to pornographic content, with only "Manhunt 2" and "Thrill Kill" joining the list for violence.
However, on Jan. 19, "Hatred" was the third game hit with an adults-only rating for violence.
The brief history of "Hatred" has been rife with controversy from the beginning. Created by Polish developer Destructive Creations, the PC game features an unnamed man who, as quoted from the game's announcement trailer, “Hate(s) this world. And the human worms feasting on its carcass."
The trailer then cuts to a bird's-eye view of the character going on a mass killing spree with shotgun executions, stabbings and room clearings of innocent people with an assault rifle. It’s grisly stuff.
A statement on the website of the game says that the game is, "Something different, something that could give the player a pure, gaming pleasure. Here comes our game, which takes no prisoners and makes no excuses. We say, 'Yes, it is a game about killing people,' and the only reason of the antagonist doing that sick stuff is his deep-rooted hatred. (The) Player has to ask himself what can push any human being to mass-murder."
In December, "Hatred" showed up on the popular PC gaming service Steam as a part of its Greenlight forum, which allows users to vote on independent games they would like to see made available to purchase. It reached seventh in total voting rank, but was quickly taken down within a couple hours by Steam itself. However Gabe Newell, Steam's CEO, sent the developers a personal letter stating that the game had put back on the service. It now awaits an official PC release, but with its new adult-only rating, there's pretty much no hope of it releasing on consoles.
If anything, "Hatred" has unleashed (again) the discussion of morality and shock value in gaming. British game developer Rockstar censored the harshest executions in "Manhunt 2" in order to remove the adults-only rating it had achieved. However, that didn't keep it away from criticism in the form of public figures and news outlets, including now-disbarred Florida lawyer Jack Thompson. He petitioned a Florida court in 2007 to have the game removed from store shelves as a “public nuisance.”
Rockstar is also the creator of the popular "Grand Theft Auto" series. The most recent installment, V, hasn't courted the same amount of controversy as its predecessors. Upon its release in 2001, "Grand Theft Auto III" became the poster child for discussion on the limits of games and what should be allowed, with the ability to perform mass killings through various means for entertainment. On a personal note, much of this discussion was presented by parents and media outlets that refused to see video games as nothing less than toys for kids and had a lack of understanding for them as another form of media.
"Hatred" is in an interesting position as far as the players that it has riled up. For a community that has typically been okay with violence in gaming's past, there has been a lot of backlash against the shooter, something that I find a little strange. Yes, it is a game where the main goal is for the player to murder innocent people without any rationale, and yes, it's grim. But these games have been done before. "Grand Theft Auto" takes a cartoon-like approach to add humor to the violence, but it's still wanton.
On the other side, with the recent school shootings and violence that caught up to us at the tail end of 2014, the folks decrying the game may also have a point. If the trailer is anything to go from, there is no joy behind "Hatred," no excitement to be had from what is essentially a genocide. I wasn't happy at seeing a woman shot close range after begging for her life. Hell, I stared at the screen for a while afterwards, asking myself if this game was actually being made. It's shock value, plain and simple.
There are two questions floating around "Hatred." Is it just another game that so happens to shove, not push an envelope? Or is it something that oversteps a moral ground?
Even after the game's release in the second quarter, that discussion will continue.
Reach the reporter at Damion.Julien-Rohman@asu.edu or follow @legendpenguin on Twitter.
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