Atomic Heart's Devs Apologizes For Racist Cartoon Footage Amid Several Controversies

Players spotting a racial caricature in Mundfish's alternate-history Atomic Heart have escalated their criticism of the title.

[Terry_B]

..okay?

[SullysCigar]

IKR? Fuss over nothing, as usual. What a surprise the person complaining was taking offence on someone else's behalf - how very 2023. All this does is detract from the REAL instances of racism that actually matter and need dealing with.

This cartoon was of the time the game is set in. If anything it makes the game setting more credible, because we all know that was perfectly acceptable in those days and nobody took offence. These days it's all about white knighting and those 'affected' really don't appreciate it as much as these people think they do.

Don't like it, don't buy it - same as if you don't like the subject matter of some films or books - but for the love of God quit your whining.

[sadraiden]

"Taking offence on someone's behalf".

Funny, where I come from, it's called objecting to bad taste. You can be offended by racism without being the target of it.

"Very 2023"? Bruh, in 2012 people made the same statement. You're neither on the cutting edge of this discourse nor does it make you seem enlightened. In fact, it just makes you seem like you're defending racist caricatures. Not a great plan.

[SullysCigar]

^ @sadraiden, where I come from I'm permitted to speak my mind and you don't get to tell me I'm wrong. Racism is all too often in the eye of the beholder, open to interpretation and debate. In my opinion, things that are of a time should be accepted as a reminder of how things have changed, not swept under the carpet in an attempt to repeat history. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.

I'll indulge you on this occasion; what is it about this cartoon that you think is racist exactly?

I'm not sure why you think I'm concerned about 'appearing' like anything, or how you judge me. Having said that..."Bruh"?? OMG did you just, like, assume my gender?!

[HICK]

At Sully, you just made my day lol

[RoseSapphire]

@SullysCigar

Lol, what?

You can spout whatever nonsense you want to... and everyone is more than in their right to tell you how wrong you are. What is this BS where you think you can just say anything without consequence?

[CBaoth]

"you can be offended by racism without being the target of it"

And I have the right to call you a snowflake.

[fr0sty]

I always chuckle when people get pissed off because someone got pissed off about depictions of racism... not only is it telling, but you're whining just as much as those you accuse right now, so put that dirty finger down. Don't like it? Don't read it.

[SullysCigar]

^ lol okay fr0sty, but you're whining about me whining about them whining, so take a seat. You're no better than me or anyone else here. Don't like my opinion, don't read it.

Nobody has explained what the problem is yet. Just sitting back, casting their aspersions.

[gerbintosh]

@Sully,

It is usually the people that have slave owning ancestors that overcompensate and make a big deal out of everything. They don't understand that no matter what they do their family line will be forever tarnished with that sin

[fr0sty]

At least now you've admitted your hypocrisy by attempting to point out mine, so my point is made.

[senorfartcushion]

“Very 2023” ok dumbass. You weren’t there after 9/11 by the sounds. It was 10% worse than it is today.

We’ve just had a Smash hit Harry Potter game made after controversy. Studios don’t care. They don’t even need to apologise for things.

[headshotfrosty]

Spoken like someone who has never had to deal with these types of issues directly. If you know, you know. Your privilege is showing.

[Adrian_v01]

@sadrian

Nothing wrong about this cartoon.

[redrum06]

You keep telling people to not read your opinion if they don't like it. How would I know if I don't like it when you tell me not to read it? Doesn't sound very smart, but it's a small thing.

You're telling that things have changed regarding racism since the early days, and of course, in a sense it has. But racism is still very much a thing up until this day, and that cartoon should be a reminder of this fact, not an opportunity to accuse people of whining about racism like you do. They have all right to bring that up, unlike you who rather hush up.
I'm glad people are conscious on this topic, and although I do enjoy Atomic Heart a lot and will keep playing it, I think it's a good thing they're reminded of the fact that they have a racist caricature in their game, and I know this, because I'm from The Netherlands and we have this awful caricature 'Zwarte Piet' who looks almost like what you see in that cartoon. White people painted with a pitch-black skin, red lip stick, golden earrings and an afro wig while serving the white 'Sinterklaas'. It's ridiculous.

[Sonic1881]

The game sucks imo

[frostypants]

People don't realize other countries have totally different standards for what constitutes "racism" (among other social standards). Americans who never travel assume the world shares our own standards then get offended when reality hits them, like in this case. I"ve seen stuff that would offend people even more than this in Germany and Italy.

[DrDoomer]

Welcome to the oppression olympics.

[Number1TailzFan]

At least you don't get treated like a criminal over it, unlike in pathetic Orwellian Britain. Police can't be bothered with trouble makers outside who take drugs, just move them on down the road.

But offend someone with petty insults online and it's arrest time, even if they insult you first.

[sadraiden]

The article isn't about petty insults online, it was about racist depictions of humans in a video game. Nice false equivalency though.

[Number1TailzFan]

@sadraiden It's still relevant, snowflakes and their hurt feelings over stupid nonsense that doesn't physically hurt them.

[ABizzel1]

As much as I agree that people take things too far at times when it comes to screaming everything is ,racism (this is coming from a multi-racial person myself), the reality is why would a developer, or anyone for that matter, be stupid enough to even have questionable attire in their material to begin with.

Why even allow the controversy to happen by putting what looks to be some Native-American Blackface hybrid in your game, unless you're purposely looking for any form of attention positive/negative, you're just unknowingly ignorant, or deep down someone thinks discrimination or racial defamation are forms of comedy in which case they might be racist.

[staticall]

What?! «Native-American Blackface»? There's nothing american about this, it's about native african people.

In this particular case, it's a papuan (native from Papua New Guinea) and some of them actually look like that (feathers, bright colors and even coloring their lips and around them red - google it). Episode takes place in a history museumm, that's why you see historic weapons (catapults, crossbows, javelins, shields, etc) there and papuan shoots at centurion with javelin and parma. Artists have used history books, verbal description from soviet expedition to Africa and encyclopedias as a reference point.

Watch the episode if you don't believe me, you can search for «Ну, Погоди! 12 серия».

[Adrian_v01]

It might be difficult to believe but outside of the US people don't think and ponder that much about race and such things.

[KeeseToast]

Some of these controversies are really reaching, especially the thing with the hairstyle. "Straight up based the sex slave robots design off of Yulia Tymoshenko... The leader of the Ukrainian 'Batkivshchyna' political party" Even if so, that politician is supposedly pro-kremlin so if they really based the design on her wouldn't it be mocking one of Putins puppets? For me it just looks like a common hairstyle you would see on a soviet-era propaganda poster.

Including the racist cartoon might have been an unsensible move, but for me it seems more like including the Swastika in a Wolfenstein game. And would could they do more than apologizing and removing it?

I hate Putin and stand fully behind the Ukraine and there endeavor to stop the illegal and brutal invasion of their country, but I feel bad for the developers at Mundfish that seem to have been caught up in something they had nothing to do with. The game is pretty good as far as I played and seems like a mockery of the Soviet Union and not an admiration.
So I think we should give them a fair chance and not hold them accountable for their shitty leader.

[shinoff2183]

I agree with most of what your saying keese except that if this was a mockery of soviet union no way russia let's this game release.

Personally I'm still looming forward to playing it.

[sadraiden]

To be fair, I wouldn't expect the Kremlin to be johnny-on-the-spot inspecting every single video game that comes out ensuring it has just enough state-sponsored propaganda. They didn't even know that their military was using 50 year old rusted AKs.

[Crows90]

Fake news. Nobody cares. None of these complainers and offended individuals actually play games. Get off our hobby!

[Dirty_Lemons]

Fantastic comment, Crow 👊

[Umb]

Gotta keep that division amongst humanity going by bring up every possible point of trigger, becuase you can gauranutee, someone will be offended for someone else's sake.

[CorndogBurglar]

I mean, the guy in the video who was offended was literally playing the game...

I think its ridiculous. But let's at least try to speak the truth lol.

[ClosetRebel]

"eyes rolling"...sigh

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

From the clip, the inclusion seems less Bioshock Infinite and more… accidental.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I should note that I haven’t played the game at all, so I have ZERO insights into the context… Infinite was plenty offensive, but the context for it was obviously intentional and served the story well.

[Crows90]

The very concept of offensiveness is weird. Like do people need to apologize for having differing opinions. Geez what up culture we live in where just thinking is a problem. Like I'm sorry I can think. In fact when you think about it this whole being offended thing and political correctness is headed towards a very dark result. I wonder what other type of government controls speech and what you can say or do.

If you were not directly insulted on an individual level then you have no right to be offended. Your feeling of offendedness is completely fake.

[sadraiden]

I'm not sure what's more pathetic: the state of games journalism, or the same 30 people commenting on every single article that remotely hints at motions toward equality. You guys really like reinforcing the stereotype that gamers are just angry incel dudes.

[SullysCigar]

Presumably you include yourself as an "angry incel" then, given how you are here with multiple comments? Awkward self-appraisal.

You know the comment sections are here for people to comment on. If you don't like their opinions, that's okay, you can disagree without resorting to churlish insults. Perhaps you could try to help people see the errors of their ways next time, which might be a healthier use of your time.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Jeez guy loves to defend his blackface caricatures.
Further proving his point.

[LoveSpuds]

I don't see how you can defend the inclusion of that cartoon personally, it is clearly playing into racist stereotyping and it is only right that the devs apologise and patch it out.

Having said that, I am happy to give the benefit of the doubt to the developer, I think it was a misjudged attempt to evoke a period in history and isnt necessarily indicative of the developer being racist. They have apologised, addressed the issue and I think that should be the end of it.

[Noskypeno]

It is further proof that racism against white people doesn't exist. Has anyone tried cancelling or altering white insults? I was watching Gutfeld the other night and he was showing dozens of insults to call white people. And he's right, white people don't care. Calling a white person their equivalent of the N word and they just shrug it off.

[Imalwaysright]

I can only speak for myself and I do shrug it off. That however doesn't mean that the people that make generalizations about white people aren't racists or that there isn't racism towards white people.

[Umb]

Racism comes in all shapes, genders, and colour. The only problem is in the West, racism has been programmed by the MSM and politicians target a certain colour only. I've seen racist asians, blacks, browns and whites, everyone is racist to a certain degree but keeps it in check. To say you have never been a racist or had racial thoughts is putting you up their with Jesus or a Saint at the very least.

And to be fair, what colour skin have donated to more to developing countries? Be that there may be driven by ulterior motives or guilt.

[anast]

Language has history. History is the foundation for previous knowledge and cultural heuristics which shape current day perceptions and people's experience and understanding of power.

1) Calling someone a "chair" without a culturally backed actions toward systematic dehumanization means nothing. But if "chair" has a historical meaning that brings about current snap judgements toward treating others as inferior, then "chair" would be a vile word to use.

2 Calling a powerful person a "step-mat" means something entirely different than when a powerful person calls ordinary people a "step-mat." This is why people in SNL can make fun of the president, but the president doesn't make fun of the people. It's called power.

There is no equivalent of the "N" word toward white people. You would have to be either innocently ignorant or seriously stupid to think there is.

You are welcome. I will take let you take it from here.

[Noskypeno]

We hear all the time about Egyptians being whitewashed in movies(even tho Rami Malek is legitimately Egyptian). So let's assume Egyptians were darker than Rami Malek and were just as much as Africans, they had a lot of power during that time, they had lots of slaves from that area and other areas as well. Every single culture had their slavery.

[anast]

@ Nos I am not saying that is not a problem. Because it happens to one group more than other groups still doesn't make it right. Does it?

Are you saying that Egyptians had slaves so it's okay not to fight against inhumane treatment? If so then you are definitely apart of the problem. The excuse that everyone goes through stuff, so it's okay to dehumanize a specific group of people, is straight from some ideological bankrupt handbook.

[CobraKai]

Omg! Um do theses people not understand the idea of context? Do they even realize what year the game takes place? Mundfish shouldn’t apologize or have to. Look at Disney cartoons at that time.

Why can’t these snowflakes be the one’s getting cancelled.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Whos cancelled? lol pretty sure the game is doing financially well.
Even the devs dont defend the vid and are taking it out..

[RoseSapphire]

Far too many people are willing to ignore racism in favor of some entertainment simply because they aren't the target of that racism.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Exactly, and people are more than willing to tell on themselves every single time, then turn around and play reverse victim, further enabling the actual racism.

[MadLad]

Reminds me of when the Kingdom Come developers went under fire because the game didn't feature people of color ... when it was doing everything it could to be a sim of that time and age in Bohemia.

The difference being they just came straight out and told people to back off.

We really are losing creative freedom today. If you're making something you always have to think is it going to offend someone, and why.

[CobraKai]

It’s stupid when something is supposed to take place within a certain period of time. Atomic Heart is an alternate universe 1950’s. This was the cartoon of the time. And at that point in time, it was what it was. Today it’s seen as racist. In the 50s it wasnt.

[NealGamby]

Jesus. Here we go again with the fake outrage on someone else’s behalf.

It’s within correct context of the setting of the game. FFS.

[HankHill]

I guess this game is the new "controversial" game that people are "outraged" about. 🙄

Hogwarts Legacy is old news now. I wonder what game will be next after this one?

[masterfox]

hmm please dont allow that guy to see 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s cartoons cause he would probably die from a heart attack.

[Rancegamerx]

This is a first-world problem; people who live better than royalty from the past (better than they could even imagine) have nothing to do but feel outraged for what they consider the little people, little people who can't possibly defend themselves because they are not educated enough to do so, so they need to do it for them. It's false glory; it makes them feel better about themselves because they helped the little people. That in and of itself is racist, but they are too ignorant or naive to see it, so they go out of their way to complain about a cartoon from the 1950s or other meaningless stuff. We all know that complaining about history will change it.

[hotnickles]

Kinda like the trust fund kids who think they are proletarians and never worked a day in their life. They are the “working class” fighting capitalism with their comrades 😂. We’re definitely at the “weak men create hard times” part of the cycle.

Not a single black person needs the protections these white blowhards so eagerly hand out. Their soft bigotry of low expectations is way worse than anything that cartoon shows.

[Demetrius]

Smh it’s sad the amount of mfs cry like grown a** babies over video games first hogwarts legacy now this lol it’s a virtual world for entertainment! Lol we have war going on, countless homeless people on the streets, kids being raped and killed, bombings, earthquakes etc all kind of shhi but mfs wana cry over video games lmao

[Knightofelemia]

This game takes place during 1936-1955 that's how cartoons were portrayed back then. People get butthurt over the stupidest stuff. Can't even tie your shoes a certain way without offending someone.

[Dirtnapstor]

So the cartoon depicted an African tribesman shooting a bow... oh the horror. We all know they never shot bows in real life.
But the humanized wolf and bunny... now that's where a reality check is needed!

[Binarycode]

Why apologize over that. so many snowflakes.

All I can say is this.

I'm from an Era where you speak your mind. Things are joked about, said in jest. Most of it comedy. Racism wasn't the thing it is today. Where everything is called out. Racism goes many ways. One colour does not own it.

Kids today think black ppl were the only slaves. Slave comes from the bible. Slav.

The worlds ppl have been slaves(all races) throughout history. Ppl are not good.

[itBourne]

Oh jeez here we go again, and they just cave on it... I am offended by guns, so lets get those taken out of games too!!

[CDbiggen]

That fat white loser in that twitch clip, everything I'd expect really - "I cannot with this game".

[hotnickles]

😂 people love their useless drama.

BREAKING NEWS: African tribesman spotted by user on the internet. Stay tuned for more on the controversy as soon as we know.

But seriously. The more you keep apologizing to these bored weirdos the longer it’s going to continue. The longer these media sites will string along dead drama. Just ignore this stuff, who cares? If you are going to apologize then don’t put it in at all, self-censor yourself and lick boots. Take a knee, you lost.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Im black and I really don't care. That's like getting upset at Bioshock Infinite for its depiction of blacks. The game was set in 1912 for gods sake. Context people. This game takes place in the 1950s. That kind of shit was VERY common.

[VanHalen]

The people that complain about this are the same clowns that want your head on a spear for playing Hogwarts Legacy.

[SeTTriP]

Sullyscigar is killing it, bravo 👏 🙌