Despite the controversial premise and over-the-top violence depicted in Hatred, developer Destructive Creations isn't looking to justify any of it. Rather, they are simply trying to "show it as it is."
In the initial reveal trailer for Hatred — a game which puts you in the shoes of a psychopath on a murderous rampage — the main character says his name is "not important." The only thing important, in his mind is what he's going to do. He shares his bitter feelings towards the world. He hates it and the "human worms feasting on its carcass." He claims that his whole life is "cold and bitter hatred," but we don't know why.
When I first watched the trailer — just like many of you — I was taken aback by the violence. Caught off-guard by the seemingly senseless violence, I was left with one major question: why is this nameless character doing what he's doing? Perhaps with some backstory, it could perhaps justify this otherwise senseless killing. Maybe if the game at least shed some light on the topic of mental disorder and some of the contributing factors that could lead to such mass slaughtering, I'd at least be open to it.
I've since had several weeks to ingest Hatred, to really think about it, and even speak to the game's developers at Destructive Creations.Turns out, that the small indie team doesn't care much for elaborating on the main character or sharing his life story. As they said during the initial reveal, that's not the point of the game which they originally claimed is designed to "give the player a pure gaming pleasure."
"No, he doesn't have a name or sad life story," Destructive Creations' Przemysław Szczepaniak told me. "And we would like to keep it that way."
"This is why we get so many questions," he explained. "We do not want to justify his actions like other developers do when they create other violent games."
For Destructive Creations, it's about keeping it simple. "We do not justify the violence, we show it as it is, and it is cruel as the one in the real world," Szczepaniak continued.
"Other violent games want to tell you why it happened through a story and justify murdering others. I mean justify the violence – it almost sound as a lie," he explained. "In Hatred it is simple and plain, because I think that such a psychopath won’t need a trigger in a form of a computer game. His sick mind will create a projection just like in any other psychic disorder. He will just go out and will start shooting, using an axe, car or any other thing that comes to his hand. We have seen many examples of such behaviors in the past and now, and none as far as I’m concerned was caused by games."
It's kind of funny — when I first saw Hatred, I almost immediately wrote it off as a game with an offensive premise disguised as "fun." Having talked to the developers at Destructive Creations, I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. In the decision to keep things simple, Destructive Creations has created a concept much deeper than the violence that exists on the surface level of Hatred — whether intentional or not.
This is just a snippet from a longer interview with Destructive Creations' Przemyslaw Szczepaniak. Check back this week for continued coverage of the game.
Hatred is on track for a PC release in Q2 2015. It's currently #1 on Steam Greenlight after a brief hiccup in which Valve temporarily removed it.
