The man packed a mean left hook, it left a huge black bruise on my chest. I responded with a swift blow to the head... With a crowbar. This knocked the raider off of his feet, but that didn't stop me. You see, HE attacked ME- I tried reasoning with the man at first, but he didn't listen. He acted insane. It's his fault that I am now standing over him, hitting his chest. He started couging up blood, which seemed to snap him outta that haze he was in. "Give me your stuff, I'll let ya go." I yelled. He didn't plead or beg for mercy- he just started... Crawling away. I followed the blood trail. The crowbar hit him again, and again, the cough was getting worse, he was choking. I kicked him in his stomach, he turned over. Now, laying on his back, he was defensless, but it didn't matter. His mouth was a volcano of blood. He took a last look at me, and drifted off. I found nothing but lint in his pockets. His backpack had an opened can of sweet corn in it. It was full of berries. The berries, as I determined, were the poisonous kind.

Fuck.

That, my friends, is what happened during one of my playthroughs of Neo Scavenger. This game is full of violence, violence that is not always necessary. And it is the ugly kind of violence. The kind that you don't want to see, the kind that makes your stomach turn. The kind that reduce a man to a whimpering pathetic animal that you blugeon to death. The way that it's described- it ain't right. Contrast that with the quick splat of a knife to the face (repeatetly, like "uh, uh, uh, uh") in Assassin's Creed, now that is way more satisfying! it doesn't make you think about mortality, and how we're made of aortas and brain stem. It doesn't make you think whether this virtual being deserves empathy, it's made out of plastic.

That's the kind of violence that is usually presented in video games and enjoyed by everyone, myself included. It doesn't mean jack shit. These games ain't murder simulators. What happened in Neo Scavenger, that was closer to murder. It was slow and painful- for both parties involved (although I suppose the murderee... or, you know, the victim, suffered much more than the murderer). Of course Neo Scavenger doesn't give you a thumbs up for scrambling somebody's brains. This game does not celebrate death, the post apocalyptic world of Neo Scavenger has a quiet, sombre tone. Conflict is something you want to avoid, you'll always get hurt and the enemies rarely have anything useful. If anything, it handles death with appropriate gravitas.

And then there's Hatred. That game that was taken off of Steam and then brought back. It looks like Postal to be honest, nothing we've never seen before. Have you ever played Postal one? The guy went around the neighbourhood and shot at people. They weren't enemies, they didn't have guns, he never had a reason to shoot 'em, they were just regural folks. So are these games murder simulators? Granted, I have not played Hatred, but it seems like it's the run of the mill violence, hundered and hundereds of bodies. Explosions and headshots. Comic book violence. Seems like a teenager's wet dream. There's no malice there, there's no... Hatred (HA-haaa! See what I did there? Guys? ...Guys?).

So whatever. Go on a killing spree in GTA V and hey, maybe you won't even have to buy this game.

Do buy Neo Scavenger though, it's pretty kick ass.

As you say, there are different kinds of violence. Watching a horrific murder with a backstory of overcoming your adversary is experienced differently than the exact same murder with a backstory of killing for the sake of it. Watching a horrific murder in 5 pixels is experienced differently than watching that same murder in glorious HD. Therefore, at this point in time I don't think comparing games like Postal to Hatred can be done without caution (not just because of graphics, but also because internet as it is today didn't exist back then, so any outrage is obviously going to be much more visible these days). It can most certainly be done, however, because there are obvious similarities. But there are also differences. Apart from graphical fidelity, the story in Postal is non-existent (or vague at best). There were hints, but it didn't have the same obvious backstory as Hatred seems to be having. Besides, Hatred's backstory shows more obvious parallels with explanations some actual serial killers have given. I know these are all details, but I think they should be considered when discussing a game that is going for the edge, that is trying to find that line between 'a lot' and 'too much'.

Similarly, comparing this game to any GTA game (in which you can go on rampages, killing cops and innocent people) can't be done without nuance. The narratives of GTA games are often not directly focused on causing harm to innocents and the way they (especially the earlier GTA games) are presented is far more satirical and exaggerated. I do believe only the top down GTA games had missions where you had to kill as many people as possible (or maybe it was only focused on killing gang members). Having the option to go on a murder rampage is different than a murder rampage becoming the aim of the game. Also, Hatred is not going for satire. It might be severely exaggerating, making it way too easy for the player to kill a lot of people, but the game is really just about inflicting harm, for no reason other than, well, hatred.

Therefore, I think that at this point in time Hatred is a unique game, in its aim, its presentation and its context. It might be comparable to other games from the past with similar aims or possibilities, but I don't think you can say that those other games are just as violent (when we see violence as multifaceted phenomenon and as something considered in a specific context). However, that doesn't mean I think this game should be banned or pulled from (digital) shelves. I personally wouldn't refrain from selling it. But I'm also hesitant to believe that stores deciding to not sell this game are nothing but hypocritical and have no point whatsoever. This game is actively looking for the edge and since the line between 'violent' and 'too violent' is not set in stone, I can understand why some people would say that this is a little bit too much. I've played many violent videogames in my life, but I'm not going to play this one. I will play GTA V, though (although I'm not the type who goes on a killing spree). If that makes me a hypocrit, well, so be it.

So are we just ignoring all the assassination missions found within GTA games? Plenty of those people are innocent and certainly not guilty enough to warrant being shot in the face. GTA V has rampage missions, unless you don't consider hipsters innocent people. GTA is plenty classy and high brow at times but let's not brush over how brutal it often is - and I have no problem with that brutality.

The comparisons to GTA are stupid. We don't even know if Hatred has any real narrative that makes it dark, so far it just looks like you're shooting people, which is possible in many other games. Hatred looks darker, yes, but then again that's just as much the art style of the game as it is the crass content. Games that ship broken should be taken off the shelves instead of things like Hatred.

@twolines: It does sound more gruesome because in that case is 2 innocents who are going into killing , for mere scraps ,so it does make it more heavy (I dont know if that is the correct word to describe it).

@privodotmenit said:

Well, the trailer has a narrative set-up with the guy preparing for his killing spree and mentioning his reasons. It may be bare and very basic, but it's a narrative context. I reckon that set-up will be in the main game. And art style is chosen for a reason, it's not just picked because the artist likes it. It usually emphasises or sets the mood of the game. And again, just to make sure, I don't wish to suggest that Hatred should be taken off shelves.

As for GTA, I should have mentioned I haven't played a GTA game in a long while (I played IV a couple of years ago) and I haven't played V (which I did imply). So I'm not intentionally ignoring the assassination missions (I just wasn't aware of them). But well, as I said, GTA games usually strongly emphasise the satirical aspect (in their entire presentation). So violence that is identical in its brutality might be experienced as less shocking or provocative simply because of context.