Cynicism surrounding games/game developers

[Firmus_Anguis]

I don't want to turn this into a reaction thread, but in a sense, it has to be in order for any meaningful discussion surrounding this topic.

Era is definitely one of the better places to discuss games. One thing I've seen crop up time and time again though, especially when it comes to a beloved series, is outright hate, dismissal and just straight up unacceptable garbage.

Shit like... This.

Click to shrink...

Again, Era is a lot better than most places at dealing with this type of crap.

Some game developers or games get a certain stigma attached to them. Whether it's justified or not, people use that as fuel to be overly harsh, condemn any future project and just use it to spread outright hate.

Even people who haven't touched their stuff, spread this distrust/hate.

I'm obviously talking about Bloober.

For 2 straight years, I've seen almost nothing but straight up hate for these developers.

No matter how genuine their attempt at faithfully remaking one of the most influential horror games of all time were, even to the original developers, the hate kept on spreading.

The disconnect from what I was seeing to what I was reading didn't really start to shift until fairly recently.

This thread is from August of this year. The devs were genuinely asking for a chance to prove themselves. This was the response. Just please... Read it and tell me with a straight face that some of it isn't toxic. It was way worse when the game was announced... But it was still present. This is not the only game I've seen this happen to.

The thing is... No matter your dislike, unless the devs have done something straight up criminal, I can't be the only one who finds this shit toxic and unacceptable. It shouldn't be happening, period.

People will happily "eat crow", say they're "surprised" and yes, the devs must be elated by the glowing reviews... But this won't stop unless we do better.

Even if the game reviewed in the 70's, it still wouldn't warrant the hate, it still wouldn't be acceptable.

We really, really need to do better. Or else there'll be another project/game facing the same kind of vitriol. It genuinely makes me not want to engage in this hobby.

Younger me was guilty of similar types of behavior, but I try to catch myself nowadays.

Being considerate is not a bad thing at all. The anonymity of the internet unfortunately makes it way easier for people to engage in this way.

I know we're way better than that. Even if we aren't - We can be.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

I'm not a cynic. Oscar Wilde said it best: A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing,

 

[NextGen]

Don't hate the player, hate the game. I imagine most if not all devs are always trying to deliver the best game they can. Also many production cycles are probably compromised by publishers in some way. You know, creativity vs making money by chasing trends etc.

 

[Lifejumper]

I never even played a Blooper game and even I found the Era hate overwhelming lmao. For some its not enough to just dislike the game, they want the entire studio + game (sales, reviews) to fail. You can apply this to movies too.

 

[Zor]

This really shouldn't be ignored in light of what you're discussing Firmus_Anguis:

Konami & Bloober Team have signed a strategic cooperation agreement (VGC- Bloober & prominent Japanese Dev now working on separate Silent Hill titles)

Let's be real, only one insider was adamant it was a Sony project. Most of the rest just weren't willing to put a stop to the rumor.

www.resetera.com

 

[Dal]

I've just made my peace with not interacting much with gaming discourse these days outside of Era, nuance feels like it's all but left the room, everything is either God's gift to the world or the worst thing ever made.

People feel a certain way and just walk backwards to justify it even when they're wrong, and it got way worse after the pandemic, some people think being a cynic makes them seem smart.

I think that on the discussion about Bloober, it's totally fine to be doubtful given their problematic history, I was too, but don't forget to keep an open mind, the same developer that just two years ago made one of the best games of all time also released a bunch of games that were genuinely dreadful like Armored Core : Last Raven or Eternal Ring lol

 

[shadowman16]

Eh, I'll be cynical when I want to. I played Bloober's game "The Medium" and it has some straight up offensive shit in it so Im not exactly gonna forget that when its announced they are working on a game I actually like. But to their credit the remake clearly turned out good. We'll see if this extends to brand new games Bloober make/write themselves is all Im saying.
But who knows what the future brings. Since the remake is reviewing well, lets just hope people love it, the game sells well, and it gives the series a good kick up the ass to get more SH out there in the not so distant future, its been dormant for too long. Even if its just remaking SH1, 3 and 4 Id be fine with it (heck a 4 remake with non shit partner AI would fix the second half of that game for me...)

That said... whenever RGGS announce a remake I will be 2000% cynical of changes they make. After they made some truly awful changes to Ishin's remake, it'll take more than a Resetera thread to change my mind ;) (will still get that Kiwami 3 remake day 1 though!)

 

[Glio]

It's all too common on the internet to believe that being cynical makes you smarter. We see posts all the time that are like "This seems cool, but I'm sure X developer will find a way to screw it up."

 

[GeeneSteela]

I'm confused, what's that picture? I mean, is the last one on the right fan made of how "Angela should look" or something?

 

[Yuntu]

I am not a cynic generally. Some things just make me very skeptical, never went full on toxic towards Blooper outside of calling their prior games bad/shit (to stick to OPs example) but I 100% dont/didnt trust them with this because everything they did before did exactly those things in writing bad SH2 did great.

Generally I try to be positive and yes OP you are right theres a lot of toxic stuff going around, even on Era. For example everytime a multiplayer game is announced from a known dev that did SP before.

 

[Menome]

This really shouldn't be ignored in light of what you're discussing OP:

Konami & Bloober Team have signed a strategic cooperation agreement (VGC- Bloober & prominent Japanese Dev now working on separate Silent Hill titles)

Let's be real, only one insider was adamant it was a Sony project. Most of the rest just weren't willing to put a stop to the rumor.

www.resetera.com

Click to shrink...

Yeah, this is why Bloober have been disappointing in the past, not the "physical quality" of what's been shipped.

 

[Firmus_Anguis]

I'm confused, what's that picture? I mean, is the last one on the right fan made of how "Angela should look" or something?

Click to shrink...

Yes... Just straight up sexist crap. And yes, it's not uncommon to see, even here.

It does get moderated fairly fast though. But it shouldn't be a thing at all.

 

[Ld007]

Basing expectations on previous work isn't stupid.
The rest is kinda stupid.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Not a silent hill fan nor ive ever played a bloober game but wow thee hatred for them was insane. Like scarily so. I eneve knew the silent hill fandom was so toxic. Skepticism is one thing but the reaction was totally rediculous.

It's all too common on the internet to believe that being cynical makes you smarter. We see posts all the time that are like "This seems cool, but I'm sure X developer will find a way to screw it up."

Click to shrink...

I find youtube has had a big influence on making people think cynicism should always be the default thanks to the numerous angry gaming reviewers etc

Also I dont beleive those poll results lol

 

[Jade1962]

You'll get a lot of no votes but the discourse says otherwise.

I just take the games as they are presented. My life doesn't revolve around gaming so why would I be cynical or emotionally invested in it. A billion games release a year it's too easy to focus on the ones I find interesting.

Even if blooper did a horrible job with the remake what has changed for the cynics? You still got to enjoy the original and you had no plans to play the remake so why the need for the constant hate?

 

[Zor]

Basing expectations on previous work isn't stupid.

Click to shrink...

I see the comment "Devs should be allowed to grow and prove themselves with their next games" a lot on here regarding Bloober specifically and it's just a little exhausting at this point because were they supposed to grow and prove themselves with Layers of Fear? Or Blair Witch? Or Layers of Fear 2? Or The Medium? Or the Layers of Fears remake combo?

Or only now with Silent Hill 2?

For what it's worth I really, really liked Observer: Redux and have given them some small benefit of doubt for that game alone, so it's genuinely quite wonderful to see that they've ostensibly nailed it on SH2R. Good for them and I hope this brings bigger and even better things.

 

[Jonathan Lanza]

So long as I am not vocal about it, I have nothing to lose by being cynical.

 

[Apollo]

I don't think you can have this discussion without frankly discussing The Medium and why people have problems with it.

 

[Strings]

Not a silent hill fan nor ive ever played a bloober game but wow thee hatred for them was insane. Like scarily so. I eneve knew the silent hill fandom was so toxic. Skepticism is one thing but the reaction was totally rediculous.

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I mean, it would make way more sense if you had any context lol. The Medium was presented as a Silent Hill-esque thing and was spectacularly bad at tackling those sorts of themes.

I thought Observer was interesting so I went into The Medium really wanting it to work too.

 

[snausages]

Armored Core : Last Raven

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This game is great tho, really cool structure. I want them to try this type of thing again

 

[mopinks]

stuff like the angela thing in the OP is dumb but I'm not really sure what it has to do with cynicism

 

[ragolliangatan]

It's all too common on the internet to believe that being cynical makes you smarter. We see posts all the time that are like "This seems cool, but I'm sure X developer will find a way to screw it up."

Click to shrink...

It's gotten worse over the last decade or so and I think part of that is due to social media and YouTube. Cynicism and negative content seems to do the best numbers wise. Nuance is completely lost and now everything seems to have to be the best thing ever or it's deemed straight up shit.

Steam and it's lack of moderation has created an extremely toxic space where everything gets amplified.

As a developer we honestly have to put up with way more abuse and vitriol than we did before social media and influencers was a pervasive as it is now- an influencer doesn't like something and takes issue and it snowballs because people just start repeating what they have said verbatim as if it is the truth even if they are wrong.

 

[Angie]

I am. But I'm always willing to give everyone a chance and more than welcome to be proven wrong.
I said this when Bloober was known to be the studio doing the remake

As someone who dislikes Bloober games, I'm more than willing to give them a chance.

Also SH2 has far more action than The Medium

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[Chairmanchuck (另一个我)]

How is it "hate", when there is skepticism that Bloober, a developer that usually does "mid games" is supposed to remake one of the most beloved games of the PS2?

Their previous games are at around 70-80 on MC/OC.

 

[seroun]

I don't want to turn this into a reaction thread, but in a sense, it has to be in order for any meaningful discussion surrounding this topic.

Era is definitely one of the better places to discuss games. One thing I've seen crop up time and time again though, especially when it comes to a beloved series, is outright hate, dismissal and just straight up unacceptable garbage.

Shit like... This.



Again, Era is a lot better than most places at dealing with this type of crap.

Some game developers or games get a certain stigma attached to them. Whether it's justified or not, people use that as fuel to be overly harsh, condemn any future project and just use it to spread outright hate.

Even people who haven't touched their stuff, spread this distrust/hate.

I'm obviously talking about Bloober.

For 2 straight years, I've seen almost nothing but straight up hate for these developers.

No matter how genuine their attempt at faithfully remaking one of the most influential horror games of all time were, even to the original developers, the hate kept on spreading.

The disconnect from what I was seeing to what I was reading didn't really start to shift until fairly recently.

This thread is from August of this year. The devs were genuinely asking for a chance to prove themselves. This was the response. Just please... Read it and tell me with a straight face that some of it isn't toxic. It was way worse when the game was announced... But it was still present. This is not the only game I've seen this happen to.

The thing is... No matter your dislike, unless the devs have done something straight up criminal, I can't be the only one who finds this shit toxic and unacceptable. It shouldn't be happening, period.

People will happily "eat crow", say they're "surprised" and yes, the devs must be elated by the glowing reviews... But this won't stop unless we do better.

Even if the game reviewed in the 70's, it still wouldn't warrant the hate, it still wouldn't be acceptable.

We really, really need to do better. Or else there'll be another project/game facing the same kind of vitriol. It genuinely makes me not want to engage in this hobby.

Younger me was guilty of similar types of behavior, but I try to catch myself nowadays.

Being considerate is not a bad thing at all. The anonymity of the internet unfortunately makes it way easier for people to engage in this way.

I know we're way better than that. Even if we aren't - We can be.

Click to shrink...

I don't agree with the sexist shit that has been said about the design of the characters on the remake, but my whole issue with Bloober Team is their treatment of heavy topics (that have to do with sexism) in their previous games.

Again you have the post above https://www.resetera.com/threads/ko...lent-hill-titles.450067/page-16#post-68530969

You have this thread on X:
View: https://x.com/bobvids/status/1356295962524835840

The messaging Bloober has had in previous games is infuriating if you're someone who cares about others. Same on Blair Witch. Same on Layers of Fear.

And honestly, you in your post are COMPLETELY disregarding the actual, legitimate criticisms people have about Bloober, while giving attention to what unfortunately the same kind of people always do in regards to female characters (which is funny, because Bloober precisely doesn't have a great history with female characters, which is the point of the criticism).

 

[Firmus_Anguis]

I don't think you can have this discussion without frankly discussing The Medium and why people have problems with it.

Click to shrink...

I've played the Medium.

I agree with the criticism it got. Without getting into spoilers, it was 100 % deserved.

That still doesn't justify the behavior I've been seeing.

 

[kurahador]

Nothing wrong being skeptical of Zack Snyder upcoming movies.

 

[Arukado]

I'd rather be skeptical than a victim of forced positivity.

 

[Firmus_Anguis]

How is it "hate", when there is skepticism that Bloober, a developer that usually does "mid games" is supposed to remake one of the most beloved games of the PS2?

Their previous games are at around 70-80 on MC/OC.

Click to shrink...

It is hate.

And you're missing the point. Beloved game series or not, less than stellar history or not - It's still not okay.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

I think it's difficult to not be cynical when looking at gaming as a business.

Cynicism directed towards developers is rarely justified. Teams with a bad track record can recover and make something amazing. Great teams can crash and burn on a project and still deserve a second chance.

I only played about half of The Medium and it was slow, boring but had nice atmosphere and looked technically impressive. There's potential for that team to make something great.

Trying to be positive isn't easy. Being excited or happy about a game means spending more money. Much easier to find an easy excuse to not like something and be able to say "I'll wait for a sale".

 

[Zor]

And honestly, you in your post are COMPLETELY disregarding the actual, legitimate criticisms people have about Bloober, while giving attention to what unfortunately the same kind of people always do in regards to female characters (which is funny, because Bloober precisely doesn't have a great history with female characters, which is the point of the criticism).

Click to shrink...

.

 

[reksveks]

there is a difference between skepticism, hate and sexist feedback.

p.s have preordered sh2, was skeptical of it, thought the plot of the medium was just rather unnuanced/heavy handed with regards to its twist. (damaged people damage people is something that i am not sure i have seen done well when it comes to SA)

 

[Blackbird]

skepticism is fine.

talking about a game's poor handling of mental issues is the right and needed thing to do.

it just got tiring since everything surrounding those aspects was extremely negative to the point of becoming comical (there are outliers, but still).

the actual point was lost long ago and we had to deal with zero nuance whatsoever.

 

[show me your skeleton]

lmao 'hate'.

 

[Soap]

While there are aspects of criticism that are ridiculous, I think basing your expectations on the quality of previous work -or lack of it- seems fine. If I am considering watching a film then the director and the team he uses definitely is something I consider about the upcoming quality of that film.

Sometimes directors can surprise you in good or bad but says, and sometimes their trajectory just changes for the better or the worse.

And I think this happens in games too. Compare From today to their earlier years, or compare Platinum today from its heights a few years ago. Reputations change.

 

[Crossing Eden]

The only studio i'd be relentlessly cynical about is Quantic Dream given that people finally seem to have caught on to the fact that David Cage is a terrible person who's terribleness is reflected in the writing of every one of his games. Most especially his racist views.

It's all too common on the internet to believe that being cynical makes you smarter. We see posts all the time that are like "This seems cool, but I'm sure X developer will find a way to screw it up."

Click to shrink...

💯

 

[snausages]

The thing I don't like about threads like this is, whether intentional or not, by starting off with some of the worst bad faith criticisms (that angela image post) it feels like it's suggestively shoveling all critiques into a bucket labelled 'cynicism' and categorising it as all part of the same problem. When not all cynicism comes from a problematic or bad faith perspective

Is there a sort of dopamine feedback loop of bad faith criticism going on around controversial titles and remakes, yeah of course there is. But lets not drift into the opposite direction of toxic positivity and dismiss where some of the cynicism came from (mentioned above, wrt handling of themes in The Medium), cause it wasn't unearned. There's something pretty shameless about taking the position with these reviews and going 'See? Now eat crow' to people coming from that angle

If you ask me, the worst thing about the internet sometimes is this feeling like it's a competition of being right all the time. I've been cynical about SH2 cause I think the camera angles are a fundamental part of the cinematic presentation of these old games, it's something I thought they would bring from The Medium. I'm looking forward to playing the game now and seeing if it can win me over in ways that make up for that, and I'll be happy to come away thinking it's a great game, or even a greater game than the original.

But I find the framing of this thread more than a bit disingenuous.

 

[CielYoshi]

I think people are really missing OP's point here: it's perfectly okay to criticize Bloober Team, The Medium, and the shitty way they've tackled the issues of mental wellbeing in their games, but during the leadup to SH2 what I've seen from the mayority of posters is NOT criticism, but outright HATE towards Bloober Team (and the less said about the discourse outside of Era, the better), and by extension, towards anyone that even dared to imply they were open to give the team a chance.

 

[Lightsong]

I'd rather be skeptical than a victim of forced positivity.

Click to shrink...

It's not forced in most cases though.

 

[Zor]

The thing I don't like about threads like this is, whether intentional or not, by starting off with some of the worst bad faith criticisms (that angela image post) it feels like it's suggestively shoveling all critiques into a bucket labelled 'cynicism' and categorising it as all part of the same problem.

Is there a sort of dopamine feedback loop of bad faith criticism going on around controversial titles and remakes, yeah of course there is. But lets not drift into the opposite direction of toxic positivity and dismiss where some of the cynicism came from (mentioned above, wrt handling of themes in The Medium), cause it wasn't unearned. There's something pretty shameless about taking the position with these reviews and going 'See? Now eat crow' to people coming from that angle

If you ask me, the worst thing about the internet sometimes is this feeling like it's a competition of being right all the time. I've been cynical about SH2 cause I think the camera angles are a fundamental part of the cinematic presentation of these old games, it's something I thought they would bring from The Medium. I'm looking forward to playing the game now and seeing if it can win me over in ways that make up for that, and I'll be happy to come away thinking it's a great game, or even a greater game than the original.

But I find the framing of this thread more than a bit disingenuous.

Click to shrink...

Yep.

Quoting myself from the reviews thread:

Wish there was a little bit more nuance (and frankly empathy) from some people here though towards those of us who've had serious issues with Bloober's games in the past, and worry over this remake for those reasons, rather than those who just thought the game was going to be bad.

We can celebrate the biggest win for Bloober, and I hope the team there are super happy on the reception to this, but it doesn't erase the feelings some of us have over how poorly and dangerously they've presented topics previously.

Here though, really amazing that they managed to pull this off, and I'm excited as hell to play this on Sunday.

Click to shrink...

It feels like for some on this forum it's still more important to be able to point and call others wrong and feel vindicated, than it is to employ some degree of nuance or empathy.

Click to shrink...

 

[Necromanti]

I actually used to like Bloober as a scrappy horror game dev before the plagiarism allegations and the way they handled certain sensitive themes. But in any case, I was extremely skeptical early on.

A lot of people just jump on a bandwagon with no knowledge of or connection to the original trepidations, though, leading to the unfocused and generic "hate" we see.

But I find the framing of this thread more than a bit disingenuous.

Click to shrink...

I guess in a way, it's oddly fitting for the response to that "hate" to be just as misguided.

 

[Reedirect]

Cynicism is probably fine in general. But I also agree that Bloober got too much hate for The Medium.

Still, it was probably a small portion of the general skepticism towards SH2R – the studio's middling release history, remake fatigue, Konami's history with Silent Hill, minor character and design changes (probably the worst part tbh, chuds complaining about Angela), bad pre-release showings all blended into a horrendous vitriolic cocktail that well surpassed rational criticism.

 

[JigglesBunny]

For most rational people, cynicism isn't inherent, it's earned and learned. Bloober has the reputation they have because their output prior to Silent Hill 2 was genuinely abhorrent. Their franchise work (like in Blair Witch) was ill-fitting of its IP, their original titles (like the Layers of Fear games and The Medium) were not only technical disasters, but insipid, rote, and — in the case of The Medium — downright offensive, narratively speaking. They hadn't earned the benefit of the doubt, and games are both an artistic and capitalistic venture.

I'm not shelling out anywhere between $20 - $120 on a video game because I like donating to charity, I'm purchasing a product that I want to extract entertainment from. If you've failed to deliver that enjoyment multiple times over across multiple different titles, you're not entitled to my goodwill and you're certainly not entitled to my money. The onus is on the team, and by extension, the product. You impress me, you entertain me, you get my enthusiasm and my money.

In the specific case of Silent Hill 2, well, we're in pretty uncharted territory! Konami essentially called up the AA benchwarmers in the last inning of the World Series and somehow, miraculously, they knocked it out of the park and brought home the Commissioner's Trophy. It shouldn't have worked based on everything we know about Bloober through their past work, but they've seemingly rallied, given it their all, and done the near-impossible. As a Silent Hill fan (and a stalwart in the "Bloober Team must stay within 100 feet of me at all times" camp), they've earned goodwill the good ol' fashioned way — they made a good game that I'm happy to play and spend my money on. The pendulum is swinging. They're not in the dog house anymore, and I can approach their next set of projects with a healthy (but cautious) optimism. I get to say "yeah, there was Layers of Fear, and Layers of Fear 2, and Observer, and Blair Witch, and The Medium, and Layers of Fear: Reloaded, but these are the folks that managed to deliver a respectful, effective, fun remake of one of my favorite video games ever made, so let's give this a chance!" You don't get good will in the form of a blank check, you have to earn it before you have something you can spend. With Silent Hill, Bloober just got a little richer.

 

[Wrexis]

Ops thread is valid but the context is wrong. The issue isn't chuds yassifying a character. You're getting people missing the forest for the trees with that post.

 

[Kemono]

It's exhausting tbh. Even here on Era it gets worse every month.

Everyone is fighting, every day there's something different to mona and bitch about. (not counting real problems like racism or sexism of course)

"Look at that bitch eating crackers" in full force.

 

[Re-Tails]

Cynicism and scepticism is healthy I would argue. This is a product being sold for money after all.

Obviously when arguments just come from sexism/racism or are obviously unreasonable, that's just being silly/asking for attention. That segment of the audience will always exist unfortunately.

 

[beelulzebub]

Being skeptical of Bloober based on the quality of their work and The Medium's trivialization of mental illness, pedophilia, and sexual assault is NOT cynicism, particularly given the prestige of Silent Hill as a franchise. That is fairly judging a studio by its output. Do some posters take it too far? Sure, but that is a vanishing minority if I'm to take an accurate assessment of even the thread you posted. The Medium is such an unsavory, offensive game that I also absolutely accept some frayed nerves here and there, because who am I to judge SA victims reacting strongly to that game's subject matter?

You can't lead with a Reddit incel meme and say "…but this isn't you guys" when leading off with your point. How is that any less toxic than the worst posters on this subject on the side opposite yours? If you wanted a sincere discussion, you got this off on the wrong foot ENTIRELY.

I'm glad SH2R is off to a good start on Metacritic, but sheesh.

 

[rochellepaws]

Era has got a lot more negative over the years in general about everything, there were even haters of Astro Bot in the past few weeks.

The bloober stuff was just crazy for this game, especially once glowing previews came out and it somehow still continued.

 

[Kahhhhyle]

Nothing is above criticism. And if people have issues with previous Bloober games (valid or not) then they can be criticized for it

That said I largely agree with you OP. Sometimes era proves it's really not much better than the people who lost it over Mass Effect 3's ending or the toxic star wars fandom.

And this isn't to say that they need to give Bloober a chance. If you've played their games and find they don't make games you like or handle certain topics then you don't need to play their games or give them a chance. Just don't become the guy sending Bioware cupcakes.

Era has got a lot more negative over the years in general about everything, there were even haters of Astro Bot in the past few weeks.



The bloober stuff was just crazy for this game, especially once glowing previews came out and it somehow still continued.

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Yup

 

[Firmus_Anguis]

The thing I don't like about threads like this is, whether intentional or not, by starting off with some of the worst bad faith criticisms (that angela image post) it feels like it's suggestively shoveling all critiques into a bucket labelled 'cynicism' and categorising it as all part of the same problem. When not all cynicism comes from a problematic or bad faith perspective

Is there a sort of dopamine feedback loop of bad faith criticism going on around controversial titles and remakes, yeah of course there is. But lets not drift into the opposite direction of toxic positivity and dismiss where some of the cynicism came from (mentioned above, wrt handling of themes in The Medium), cause it wasn't unearned. There's something pretty shameless about taking the position with these reviews and going 'See? Now eat crow' to people coming from that angle

If you ask me, the worst thing about the internet sometimes is this feeling like it's a competition of being right all the time. I've been cynical about SH2 cause I think the camera angles are a fundamental part of the cinematic presentation of these old games, it's something I thought they would bring from The Medium. I'm looking forward to playing the game now and seeing if it can win me over in ways that make up for that, and I'll be happy to come away thinking it's a great game, or even a greater game than the original.

But I find the framing of this thread more than a bit disingenuous.

Click to shrink...

It's mainly because it's not the only game developer I've seen this happen to.

It's just the most recent one. While I do use Bloober as an example, the point of that Angela picture wasn't only the sexist nature of it, it was the geneal "b*tch eating crackers" levels of "criticism" levied at the game.

There's a difference between healthy skepticism and straight up hate. I'm sure you're well aware, the thread isn't aimed at you or people with similar takes on SH2.

It's to highlight a behavior I've seen. It's to highlight how goddamn toxic it is. It's to try to prevent it from happening again.

I don't want us to just look at the reviews, shrug and move on.