Popular fighting game Skullgirls is being slammed with negative reviews after the developers made recent changes to art considered in poor taste by the studio. While the fighting game was originally released more than a decade ago in 2012, the flagship title originally from developer Reverge Labs has garnered a cult following for its art design and easy-to-learn gameplay. The game would receive multiple re-releases with the most recent, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, receiving multi-platform ports to several consoles. Now, a recent change to the game has been met with review bombing from fans.
While Skullgirls has carved out its niche fanbase among the fighting game community, the game's popularity has not come without its fair share of backlash. The game has changed hands multiple times since its launch, most recently with Lab Zero Games' dissolution in 2020 following sexual misconduct allegations. With 2nd Encore now led by Hidden Variable Studios, the game is currently expected to receive a new port to Xbox consoles sometime this year. However, recent alterations to some of Skullgirls' art have received significant backlash from fans.
Skullgirls director Charley Price would reveal the changes within a recent forum post, removing in-game art featuring "allusions to real-world hate groups" and "sexualization of younger characters" among other issues. The unexpected alterations have been met with a flurry of negative reviews on Steam, tanking the game's recent score to "Mostly Negative" on the platform. Angry fans have claimed "wokeness" on the part of the new developers and suggested the changes used "4Kids-style censorship" to remove elements that might have been deemed offensive.
Price would later respond to the review bombing, confirming that the team behind Skullgirls had taken "careful consideration" before rolling out the changes. The developer would also reveal that it had expected the sudden alterations to be met with negative reception from fans, declining to comment further on the adjustments. Some fans in the Steam reviews would also rebuke the negative reaction, suggesting those leaving the negative reviews did not have adequate experience with the game. Skullgirls has generally maintained a "Very Positive" review trend since its initial launch.
While many fans were outraged by the changes to Skullgirls' art, the alterations come as more and more high-profile games have made adjustments to be more culturally sensitive. Some games with sexually explicit themes or designs like Bayonetta 3 have introduced optional censorship in a way to tone down these sexualized designs. Others have made changes to remove references to real-life groups like Nazis that may be offensive to some fans. Skullgirls' changes join an industry-wide push to make games more accessible for all players.
Skullgirls is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and mobile devices. Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions are scheduled to release in 2023.
Source: PCGamer