The gaming world is constantly subjected to a good amount of controversy, with a good amount of this often being focused on the tired old discourse of “do video games cause violence?” Most of the times, this is ridiculous, as it’s baffling to think of how something like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing could possibly inspire violence.
But sometimes controversy like that gets some easy fuel. Back in 2015, this was the case with Hatred, an isometric shooter created by Destructive Creations. The title was pretty much entirely based on killing as many innocent people as possible, with the “antagonist,” a textbook edgelord designed as every stereotype of a mass shooter ever, sets out to commit genocide and die violently.
Charming, right?
Happy Easter our beloved fans 🖤
Recently we revealed something regarding Nintendo Switch. This picture may give you a better idea about what is going to happen.
Are you waiting? pic.twitter.com/a16anUq5St
— Destructive Creations (@DestCreat_Team) April 11, 2020
Destructive Creations took to Twitter to announce that the game would be getting a port to the Nintendo Switch. There isn’t a release date on when exactly this is going to happen, only that it will, in fact, be coming to Switch.
Some fans were excited about this, which is fine. Overall, though, a lot of people are confused. There are few games that match Nintendo’s aesthetic less than Hatred. The entire game is a gritty depiction of non-stop gory violence where the player does nothing but brutally murder innocent civilians and police officers as a discount bin version of Nathan Explosion. It earned the rarely-given Adults Only rating by the ESRB, which isn’t the sort of thing you generally see on a Nintendo console.
But the other thing it earned was negative reviews, especially from critics. Obviously, the game matter was a focus of critique, but it wasn’t like the dated shock value was the only flaw in the game.
Hatred holds a 43/100 on Metacritic, with outlets like GameSpot giving the game a 3/10, which seems to be the average. Destructoid and Game Informer gave the title a 5.5/10, which is generally one of the higher scores. In terms of player base, the title sits in the average to below-average range. Many felt the title was solid visually and that the dark ambience was well down, but the repetitiveness made the levels feel like a slog, and the poorly designed AI left the game with no real difficulty.
Overall, Hatred is mostly known for its violent controversy and not its gameplay, which is rarely if ever the sign of a good game. Regardless, Steam users seem to like it, so maybe Nintendo players will be able to find the same enjoyment.
