Little Devil Inside devs, Neostream promised changes on Saturday after a backlash erupted the day before one particular character design in their upcoming game. The company announced it will be editing the way a character some though looked like an African tribesman appeared.
I was so excited for Little Devil Inside.
Then I noticed these enemy types.
bruh. ??♂️ pic.twitter.com/q5RK50orQy
— Balvin | Big Boss (@LordBalvin) June 12, 2020
Users on social media saw the pictures of these tribesmen and noticed the facemasks, as well as the dark skin and dreadlocks. When they put them all together with the blowdart pipes which some thought looked like marijuana cigarettes, users felt the depiction was a racist caricature.
Neostream said it will be changing the appearance of these Little Devil Inside enemies to emove the dreadlocks, change the bold lips, change the skin tone and tweak the dart blower so it looks less like a joint.
The company, which showed off its game to great praise at the PS5 reveal also said they were, “not aware of the stereotypical connotations and wish to apologize to anyone who may have been offended by the character design.”
Neostream went on to say when they went looking for a design for this enemy, the intent was to “create characters who are protectors/guardians of a particular mystic region in the world of Little Devil Inside.” They added they weren’t making characters that were intended to be tied to any particular African tribe.
They added the goal was to find colorful masks that could have the same kind of liveliness in movies like Disney’s Moana.
