Hatred Wants to be Hated

Hatred is a game you might not have heard of; in fact I only saw the trailer this morning, but it struck me, not for its gameplay and not for its graphics but for its subject matter. Hatred is a game where the main protagonist is a spree shooter, the biggest trend in America. Violence isn’t new to the industry and neither is senseless violence, but so far the game has been met with a mixed reception. GTA is practically gaming royalty with it’s strong lineage, however it is still the biggest target when it comes to people against violence in games. These arguments spawn from the fact it is possible to do something in the game: possible not required. When a player decides to kill a large group of civilians it is of their own accord and not the main focus of the game, it’s merely a facet.

GTA has always been at its best when it’s more satire than serious and after watching the Hatred trailer a few times now I honestly don’t know which it is. The trailers opening monologue feels like it was written by a thirteen year old emo kid describing how the protagonist hates people and feels like his life is cold. The main character looks like he’s in his 30’s and is part of a metal band but his monologue sounds like he’s a whiny little brat that wants to run away from home. It feels like it was written seriously but I refuse to believe it.

I personally don’t have problem with a game asking me to do something that I don’t agree with, I think it can birth amazing stories. I think the player can hate the protagonist and get an amazing experience from doing so, which is something the recent GTA did well. I don’t have a problem with killing innocent civilians, just give me a reason for it other than hate. I think Hatred wants to be the new Postal or Manhunt and honestly I can’t blame them, that market is completely empty right now and if the past has shown us anything people will throw money at it.

The game itself looks uninteresting at the moment, a survival isometric shooter isn’t something that would pop up on my radar if it wasn’t for the subject matter and I suppose that’s the point. I can see it being something that would wear thin very fast. I can’t imagine it occupying my time for long, as stacking up bodies would probably become tedious. A multiplayer score-attack mode would be interesting, a mass murder competition. From what I’ve seen it looks rather dull.

So what do I think will happen to this game? It will probably get picked up by some American news station and receive a lot of free publicity then it’ll get banned in Germany and Australia. A lot of teenagers will buy it because people will say it’s too much for kids and then they’ll think it’s cool and mature. Peoples reactions have been interesting, some saying it’s exactly what the industry needs and others saying it will make the industry’s reputation even worse. I think the problem with this game is peoples reactions are going to be more interesting than the actual game. It’s funny to see how small distinctions can completely change people’s attitude. If this was a game with zombies, I wouldn’t be writing this article right now or even if the civilians had means to defend themselves.

In short I’ll definitely be watching how the community receives the game and I think without some sort of campaign added the game itself won’t interest me. In terms of marketing it is working, people are talking about a game that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.