Superhot VR removing "disturbing scenes" from the game

Localhorst86 · Jul 23, 2021

The team behind Superhot VR has recently announced that they are going to remove scenes from the game depicting self harm. While it was already possible to disable these within the settings, the developers have decided to remove those scenes entirely from the game with the latest update. These changes have apprently already hit Steam and the Quest storefront, expect it to reach other platforms as well, soon.

Initial announcement: https://store.steampowered.com/news...=103582791458380802&emgid=2992063678829322336

“Skip disturbing scenes” toggle was added in a previous update. Considering sensitive time we’re living in, we can do better than that. You deserve better. All scenes alluding to self harm are now completely removed from the game. These scenes have no place in superhot virtual reality. We regret it took us so long.

We’re commited to shipping this update to all vr platforms.

-superhot team

Since the announcement, the game has received lots of negative reviews already and they are now moderated by steam. The CEO of SUPERHOT Team has already responded to the backlash on discord with a more elaborate statement.
Source: https://discord.com/channels/385450774949396480/620989558494068766/867951511374819368

piotr — Today at 03:09

piotr here, designer and ceo of superhot.

I just saw steam reviews for superhot vr moderated, which feels weird. Crushing game's reviews like that was a valid message. It's not the most pleasant, but I get it: something was taken from a game, as if stolen remotely. This didn't feel right and you reacted.

SUPERHOT VR is now a scarred experience, as its' 'story' hinges on the offending scenes removed. If you played before the update: you played a classic. This version is now history and we are not erasing it - we're simply living on, responsibly. I don't want us to sell this version any more. It does not feel right.

We're still commited to removing these scenes on all VR platforms. Place where time freezes until you move is far more interesting on its own, without the edgy narrative that forces you through a set of levels and until you get a "you win" message. Further updates will sharpen focus on gameplay and presence.

When I wrote "you deserve better", I really really meant it. We first developed superhot for a 7 Day FPS Jam in 2013 and it was a massive success ever since. This was a taxing experience for everyone involved, myself included. Almost 8 years have passed and we're still stuck making games about self-destructive loops: this is a fingerprint of this pressure. You deserve better than the product of stress and depression that we feel obliged to preserve because of the possible outrage of content removal.

superhot is a place where time stops until you move. You cannot possibly experience that without virtual reality. This place is made of hard concrete and brittle crystal exacly because this physics of shattering can be so mesmerising in slow motion. This place is safe in a weird way: even if it's crumbling around you, the danger will not reach you until you move. If you ever froze still, scared of an object fast approaching - we deliver what your instincts wanted in that moment. This is the core of superhot virtual reality.

Scenes alluding to self-harm will not be part of this place. Neither will I allow for manipulative design and illusion of achievement. In Poland we call this 'dzidzi-bobo design'. We're past that. Time freezing for you means you are in control and let this be foundation for all things superhot from now on.

I hope this clears up our intentions behind this important update. It was not easy to do and is not easy to communicate. I kept the original message minimal, but that only spawned confusion and in the end you deserve to know what is happening. I'm open to suggestions on how to preserve the old version, but maybe it's better off as a folk tale rather than a working software. Peace.

---------------------------------

piotr — Today at 03:17

The deleted scenes are not coming back.

I want to take this oportunity to remind everyone that it is not okay to harrass their employees because of a possibly controversial decision.

Veho · Jul 23, 2021

Sounds like the developers are working through some issues of their own as well.

Kioku · Jul 23, 2021

Well.. Good thing I beat it before this change.

WG481 · Jul 23, 2021

Are you kidding? The whole "discard your body" thing adds to the lore of the game. Removing it will make less sense.

bobmcjr · Jul 23, 2021

we are not erasing it

Yes, by definition this is what you are doing (well, on any platform that isn't Steam which at the moment is downgradable with some tricks).

you deserve better

Yes, we do deserve better than game devs willing to retroactively censor an experience and forcibly remove content instead of giving the player options.

I'm open to suggestions on how to preserve the old version, but maybe it's better off as a folk tale rather than a working software

I mean, on Steam the obvious solution would be to keep it in a "Beta" branch like other downgrade friendly games (e.g. RimWorld), but I truly doubt their definition of "preserve" would incorporate such easy access.

The deleted scenes are not coming back.

Ok, so you don't want to preserve the original then. Got it.

Crushing game's reviews like that was a valid message.

Yes, it's a very fair and valid message, especially given the attitude of the rest of the explanation.

I have not yet posted a negative rating myself, as I'm waiting for the "Review Bomb" filter to calm down so the negative rating actually matters.

Chary · Jul 23, 2021

I love the backseat gamers here telling a dev how to treat their own creative work.

No, no, anything but the intense narrative and lore of Superhot! I'll never sleep well again!

WG481 · Jul 23, 2021

Chary said:
I love the backseat gamers here telling a dev how to treat their own creative work.

No, no, anything but the intense narrative and lore of Superhot! I'll never sleep well again!

I'm just complaining over here.

Localhorst86 · Jul 23, 2021

I personally don't like the decision, I think piotr explained it best in their own statement:

SUPERHOT VR is now a scarred experience, as its' 'story' hinges on the offending scenes removed.

that being said:

If you played before the update: you played a classic.

it's an experience I had and they wont make me "unexperience" it. I just find it unfortunate that they don't want us to be able to relive that experience or share it with new people. They already had this as a toggleable setting, I feel like "no one"* would have complained if they simply disabled the scenes by default but allowed people to re-enable them if they really wanted.

I do respect that they have artistic freedom over their creation and if they no longer want to sell the version as it was: so be it. I can still refuse to install the update, luckily this is an offline game and keeping it on an older version will not keep me from playing it. I Just hope I never have to reinstall the game from PSN, because that would include the update.

*some people would have still complained, crying "virtue signaling", but I feel like a large portion of people critizising the move would be able to live with it.

Tom Bombadildo · Jul 23, 2021

That's dumb.

But hey at least you can always pirate it before the change, so meh.

Navlida · Jul 23, 2021

Chary said:
I love the backseat gamers here telling a dev how to treat their own creative work.

No, no, anything but the intense narrative and lore of Superhot! I'll never sleep well again!

A creative work which they then sold to consumers, and are now censoring post launch. Despite the fact that Superhot's story isn't the primary reason why someone would wish to play the game, post launch censorship isn't something that I consider acceptable practice.

I encourage others to make their own decisions while purchasing future titles.

bobmcjr · Jul 23, 2021

Localhorst86 said:
I do respect that they have artistic freedom over their creation and if they no longer want to sell the version as it was: so be it.

Yeah, but I kinda feel like that's how you get the Star Wars Special Editions. Makes preservation more obnoxious than it needs to be if nothing else. I can't think of a single instance where changed content has actually improved something, certainly makes things worse in the majority of cases.

Feel bad for console players once again getting fucked over for not being able to have reasonable control over the games they've purchased.

Jokey_Carrot · Jul 23, 2021

Localhorst86 · Jul 23, 2021

Jokey_Carrot said:
1984

are you implying this is out of the book 1984 or are you refering to the incident where amazon mass-removed the book remotely from a bunch of kindles?

Xzi · Jul 23, 2021

This makes sense as something you do a day or two after launch, and only assuming you have something else to put in its place. Years later though? Nah, it's ridiculous. Now I have to pirate a game I've already paid for to get the uncensored version, and let's be honest, the game as it was intended. Reminds me of that South Park episode where they have to save classic movies from their own creators.

Edit: one of the developers stated in the past that they would not delete content, so that's...not great on their behalf.

2553741268_preview_Screenshot 2021-07-21 230510.png

FAST6191 · Jul 24, 2021

+1 to the views this a negative camp.

I am also struggling to think of similar incidents.

There is the mass effect remastered thing but that is remastered (can happily be a negative in a review or general discussion of design philosophy as well), there is the red cross on health thing but that is just trademark and largely immaterial, similarly trademarks and licensing have caused other fun. Some nominally gambling stuff from later rereleases/emulated versions of things but eh.

I am curious as to the rationale as well. The phrasing of the devs makes me wonder if this is some kind of socially contagious act ploy (if some of your friends get a divorce your chances of having it happen to you go up notably, suicide is noted as this, school shootings the same, drug use... don't know about self harm offhand but I would certainly not bet against it) but this is also a game so harder to draw a line in that regard (see also violence vs time vs games played, and any number of moral panics). That said I am also wary of Steam et al doing some kind of hidden blacklist/censor fun a la youtube's various efforts in that direction.

Yay for backups/preservation efforts I guess.

Chris_Dai_Gyakuten_Saiban · Jul 24, 2021

Why would the developers decide to remove such scenes from a game long after launch? Was putting the option to not see those "self-harm" scenes, not enough, what a stupid decision, I suppose the only thing to mitigate this issue on the pc end is by preserving the game and not updating, or making a mod that restores the cut content.

CompSciOrBust · Jul 24, 2021

Chary said:
I love the backseat gamers here telling a dev how to treat their own creative work.

No, no, anything but the intense narrative and lore of Superhot! I'll never sleep well again!

I see this as being akin to George Lucas editing Star Wars, like someone else pointed out. Not just with superhot but just games in general that make changes post launch that you can't revert. Imagine if Nintendo was able to patch out Bowser dropping in to lava in the first Mario Brothers game for the NES because it depicts animal cruelty. It wouldn't make a difference to gameplay but to change a work like that doesn't feel right. Games are creative work and should be preserved in their current state for future generations. This is already the case for films, books, and music so why not games? Sure other mediums can be revised like George Lucas did with Star Wars but the difference is once you own the VHS of Star Wars George can't edit your personal copy. Anyone that wants to see the old version can still buy a preowned version on eBay. That isn't the case with digital only games. In this case the developer can force you to lose an experience that you paid for. Anyone that wants to experience that version again can't now, excluding piracy.

Jokey_Carrot said:
1984

I was going to say this is stupid, but yeah actually it kind of is like 1984. Not because of censorship but because in 1984 the ministry of truth will hunt down and destroy any existing media that has been revised. Since when updating a digital only game you lose the old version and are completely unable to retrieve it unless you have a backup somewhere this is kind of similar to that one minor plot point.

Viri · Jul 24, 2021

CompSciOrBust said:
I see this as being akin to George Lucas editing Star Wars, like someone else pointed out.

I would say it's worse. It would be like buying the original Star Wars on tape in the 80's, and then Lucas somehow changing your tapes 3 years later.

qqq1 · Jul 24, 2021

Pretending to kill other people is great but never pretend to harm yourself!

CompSciOrBust · Jul 24, 2021

Viri said:
I would say it's worse. It would be like buying the original Star Wars on tape in the 80's, and then Lucas somehow changing your tapes 3 years later.

I kind of said that a bit near the end but I was just writing a steam of consciousness so I guess it wasn't very clear.

Superhot VR removing "disturbing scenes" from the game

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