Life is Strange filled with hate symbols – this could have been prevented. But a developer apparently tried multiple times to incorporate Nazi symbolism in several places.
For many, the “Life is Strange” series holds a special place in their memories. Whether it is the first part of the game with its tangled time travel or the latest spin-off “True Colors” with the colors of human emotions: Life is Strange is filled with relatable, sympathetic, and diverse characters that remain memorable.
Accordingly, “True Colors” was celebrated as one of the first games to feature a “true” bisexual main character.
The more bitter is what has now come to light about the developer studio Deck Nine. Because apparently, an employee is trying to smuggle hate symbols into the next “Life is Strange” game.
What was discovered? As IGN reports, there was a peculiar discovery in the Life is Strange development team last year: Nazi symbolism appearing in various assets of the game. These included:
- The number 88
- The number 18
- Racist memes (“Sheeit”)
- The Hagal rune (which was used by the SS, among others)
Initially, it was thought that these were merely accidents – after all, the numbers 18 and 88 could just be numbers. But the sheer volume of occurrences of these findings quickly raised doubts. There were simply too many findings to dismiss as coincidence. Elizabeth Ballou, a former Narrative Designer at Deck Nine, commented:
I tried to leave room for the idea that a person had built a series of extremely unfortunate coincidences. It is very hard for me to believe that. Especially since we told him to remove the “Sheeit” meme and he left it in, just smaller. So this is either a case of the worst miscommunication in human history… or it is a case of Occam’s Razor, where the simplest explanation is that someone wanted to see how many of these things he could incorporate and get away with.
That such symbols would be problematic, especially in Life is Strange (but of course everywhere else), is beyond question. After all, the “Life is Strange” games have received several awards for their portrayal of diverse characters and their handling of social issues. At the Game Awards, they even won the “Games for Impact” award multiple times.
The games are praised for their portrayal of diverse themes, relatable characters, and a sensitive approach to various issues.
“Sneaked in” hate symbols would poison these games.
What other problems are there? The hidden Nazi symbols are just one of many problems that there were at the developer Deck Nine, as the report reveals.
Several developers reported that women were rarely considered for promotions. It always required the support of dozens of employees and letters to the HR department for women to be even nominated for promotions.
At the same time, there is much criticism of one of the former heads of the team, who allegedly approached women with “love bombing” and then wanted to exploit his position of power over them.
Furthermore, there is talk of a lot of “crunch.” Many employees report that they had to put in between 60 and 80 hours a week for a month straight to complete the production of the game and meet otherwise impossible deadlines.
The whole (very, very long) report from IGN is worth a look not only for fans of Life is Strange.
The next part of “Life is Strange” will soon be presented in more detail. But all these reports cast a dark shadow on a developer whose games stand for exactly the opposite of what seems to be happening behind the scenes.
Life is Strange: True Colors was also criticized upon release – back then due to a Tibetan flag that caused review bombing.
