Steam Hit Heartopia Responds To Accusations Of 'Blatant Racism'

"On this quest, you feed a mushroom to one of the FEW POC NPCs, and after they eat the mushroom, they jump up and down and make MONKEY NOISES. I'm disgusted by the blatant racism."

"Kapil's actions were supposed to depict the symptoms of dizziness and loss of bodily control. We have since promptly removed this action. We sincerely apologize to anyone who may have felt offended. We appreciate the feedback that brought this matter to our attention."

"Moving forward, we will take this incident as a learning opportunity and strive to promote an inclusive and congenial environment within Heartopia. We extend our deepest apologies once again."

Heartopia, a cozy simulation game that previously disclosed its use of generative AI, faced significant backlash after adding a questline featuring Kapil, one of the few characters of color in the game. The quest involved feeding Kapil a poisoned mushroom, after which the character would make monkey noises and jump around. Players criticized this as blatantly racist imagery. The developers claimed the actions were meant to depict dizziness and loss of bodily control. Both the character and questline were removed within 24 hours of their addition. The development team issued an apology, acknowledging the offense caused and committing to creating a more inclusive environment moving forward.

Read at Kotaku