Original God Of War Director Calls Out 'Racist' Forspoken Haters
Love it or hate it, Luminous Productions' Forspoken is everywhere right now. Away from abysmal UI and complaints that we've been lied to about its graphical capabilities, there are others turning off their PS5 and PCs over the game's "woke" protagonist.
Known for her part in the short-lived Resident Evil series, Ella Balinska voices Frey Holland - a young woman who's transported from New York to the fantasy realm of Athia.
Frey should be something of a big deal as the first black female protagonist to grace a truly AAA game, but instead, she's become a figure of hate.
Now, former God of War Director David Jaffe has come to Frey's defence. Basically, if you're going to hate Forspoken, only hate it because it's just not very good.
What Has David Jaffe Said About Forspoken?
David Jaffe is known as the Director of the original God of War, which is ironic considering the harshest critics might compare Forspoken's graphics to the 2005 game.
In a passionate string of tweets about the state of Forspoken, Jaffe said he was ready to buy the game despite its critiques.
Explaining his process, Jaffe added, "Part of it is the good stuff I'm hearing from people who are playing it - and the fact I DID enjoy the demo.
"The other part is I want to buy it to spite the a**holes who clearly don't like women, black people, or PlayStation." This follows up on complaints about Frey and how she's pandering to "woke" gamers.
Jaffe also refers to previews last year where Square Enix was called out for a lack of black writers and the fact it used several racial stereotypes.
"To be clear, the tropes about black folks in Forespoken are sh*t they were called out over a year ago and Square did nothing (which is their right, of course)," said Jaffe.
"But I'm talking about the players who are being d*cks for no clear reason, so I assume it's racism + console war + misogyny." You only have to quickly scroll on social media to find the usual dumpster fire of racist comments.
Jaffe Clarifies His Comments
When Jaffe's musings were picked up, he posted a lengthy rant saying that his words were taken out of context by some outlets.
Jaffe clarified what he meant, reiterating that he never stated everyone complaining about Forspoken is "secretly racist," but instead, thinks "some of the energy and vitriol, just discussion [sic] about this game is happening because it is a lead female black character."
He also added that some of the arguments come from the fact this is a PlayStation game - once again stoking the fires of the console wars.
Opinions were split. In the comments to his original video, one person wrote, "Jaffe projected a variety of social issues onto this game that didn't exist." Another disagreed and added, "Many are criticizing the protagonist, there's a LOT of misogyny and racism."
Summing up the thoughts of most, someone on Twitter concluded: "Is there a person out there who is racist and refuses to buy Forspoken because he's a racist? Yea probably. But racism is not the reason IGN gave it a 6 and Gamespot gave it a 4. My god y'all gotta do better."
Whether you think Forspoken is being dragged down because of racists or the fact it's overpromised on what it could deliver, the discourse on the subject is a warzone right now.
