"My genocide crusade begins... here."
A shocking line, and the final one spoken in the trailer for Hatred, the first game to be released from Destructive Creations, a Polish game studio. When the trailer initially dropped in October, it brought with it the expected political backlash for a game with a controversial topic. But, as I would find out, even the creative director, the outspoken Jarosław Zieliński, was surprised by just how far it all went.
If you aren't aware of the game at this point (likely a result of just waking up from a coma, or just now discovering there is a thing called the Internet), a brief summary: You assume the role of an unnamed man, bent on one thing: Killing as many people as possible before he himself is killed. The trailer itself can be disturbing to watch, especially if you fear the rash of mass shootings that have plague the world of late.
I will admit, my first viewing of the trailer shocked me. But then I watched it back, and found myself intrigued. Much like earlier shock titles such as Postal and Manhunt, the story is what shocked, not the gameplay. The more I watched it back, the more I wanted to know about the creative team behind the game.
I was obviously not alone. Stories were already swirling, including a rumour that the game was being made by Neo Nazi sympathizers. I knew, even at first glance, there wasn't much truth to that. Then came the request from Epic Games to remove logos from the trailer for the Unreal Engine. It should be noted that inclusion of these logos is actually a stipulation of the licensing agreement. If that wasn't enough, there was a petition started online demanding the game never be released, and that the developers needed to issue an apology.
After seeing all of this, I put my comments out on display, but I honestly was burning with curiosity. I was concerned that, given the state of games media, the company might not get a fair voice that tried to understand the why of this game.
So I reached out to the team behind the game, hoping they would answer a few questions for some small-time random gaming blogger. They were kind enough to not only respond, but provide me with some insight behind the game. While there are plenty of interviews out there (most likely better than mine), I still would like to provide mine as just more insight into the irreverent minds behind Hatred.
[Note: Removed from this interview was a question regarding claims of Neo Nazi
affiliation. This was proven to be false, and a full statement from the
team can be seen on their official website. Due to the delay, this
statement was released after the questions were sent. Jaroslaw did answer by referring me to the site.]
The game's trailer starts with a strong topic: Mass shootings. Did you have concerns about how this product would be viewed?
[Jarosław Zieliński, Creative Director] - Well, as the game about mass-shooter? It was obvious that people's reaction will be pretty polarized and it didn't concern us, really. It was part of the plan, but we didn't expect such a scale of all this.
When you were working on the project, what was your desire for the player to take away from the experience?
[J. Z.] Evil grin on his face. :)
Have you ever played Spec Ops: The Line, and if you did, do you feel that's what influenced you to make this game?
[J. Z.] Postal influenced Hatred. Spec Ops bored me after 20 minutes, but I wouldn't say it's a bad game. It's just me.
Like 6 Days in Fallujah, this game might have issues being released. Are you self-releasing this title?
[J. Z.] Digitally - yes. We're talking about retail release with some publishers. Yes, some of them are interested, because controversial or not - it's still business.
I can imagine that victims who survived attacks similar to the one shown will have a strong reaction to this product. Do you have any comments for those who have been impacted by mass shootings?
[J. Z.] I've seen only one so far. Negative, of course. I'm really sorry for those people's experience, but we're not referring to any real-life mass-shooting in our game. All events here are fictional.
One item that crossed my mind while watching the gameplay footage is that numerous acts depicted in your game are very similar to acts found in the Grand Theft Auto, Saint's Row, and Assassin's Creed series. In those you do very similar acts, such as assassinations, random acts of violence, and such. When creating this game, did you consider how similar those elements were, and how the narrative changes their context?
[J. Z.] Yes, it changes the whole thing and we were aware of it. And what is hypocritical about all those complainers is that for them killing people for money in GTA is okay, while killing because of being mentally-ill isn't. It's fun to watch all those pissed off morality-warriors. :)
Thanks for the interview!
I would like to thank Jaroslaw for the interview, and I await the release of Hatred, and the future projects of Destructive Creations with great interest.
Hatred is slated to be released in Q2 of 2015.
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