Idiots who believe that changing a few characters is a sign of it becoming “too woke” are criticizing the Dead Space remake.
With the release of the Dead Space reboot, everyone may now relive Isaac Clarke’s harrowing first encounter with the Necromorphs. Although most of Dead Space has been kept the same as it was originally, EA Motive has taken the opportunity to change some things. For example, they have added more discoverable lore that suggests some late-game story beats, added gameplay elements like the disgusting new peeling system, and made Isaac a little chattier to better fit with his characterization in the sequels.
In addition, Motive has changed the appearance of several of the characters, such as Isaac Clarke, whose face has been changed to better match his voice actor, and side characters like Kendra Daniels, who is revealed to have a girlfriend in the game’s introduction. This was added by Motive and wasn’t in the original game, which obviously indicates that the game has become more “woke.”
At least, that’s what some posts that have appeared on social media since the debut of the Dead Space reboot claim. Going to the game’s Steam forums reveals a plethora of various threads that criticize it for being too “political.” Prepare yourself for some serious brain worm takes.
One discussion thread highlights some of the ways in which the remake has been altered to advance this ostensibly woke agenda, including the substitution of Johnston for a black woman who survives the attack, the ageing of both Kendra and Nicole, and the inclusion of black and Asian people in advertisements near the Ishimura. The genderless bathrooms on the Ishimura are another problem that has been brought up in a related discussion. This is evidently enough to prevent someone from simply refusing to purchase the game.
Even the Steam reviews are affected by misguided rage. The characters are “wildly different,” “history is rewritten from 2008,” and there are many “subtle modifications that signal that game’s politics,” according to one unfavorable assessment. Another reviewer claims that even if the gameplay and graphics are “wonderful,” the changes to the story caused them to stop playing right away because they detested how “modern-day politics have been added where it is not needed.”
Games expert Chris Ray Gun uploaded footage from an anonymous streamer as one illustration of someone being weirdly angry by the modifications. When questioned about how he’s finding the game thus far in the video, the streamer replies that Motive “included a lot of queers woke crap that normies are going to ignore because it’s not pushed in your face constantly.” Then, in a statement that doesn’t even make sense, he adds that it’s “not subtle either.”
Given the same “woke” criticisms leveled at the Mario Bros. Movie for including Rainbow Road, the response to the Dead Space remake’s changes to make the world more inclusive and comparable to our own probably won’t come as much of a surprise, but it’s still sad that something as basic as bathroom signs and wrinkles can cause people to become so upset.
