Hotline Miami 2 dev ponders removal of sexual assault scene

A controversial simulated rape scene in Hotline Miami 2 could be removed from the final game.

Dennis Wedin of developer Dennaton has confirmed that the scene, which caused debate and upset following an evocative preview from PC Gamer, has already been cut from the demo.

We’re going to work with it, see if we can fix it,” Wedin told Rock Paper Shotgun. You get a bigger picture when you play the whole game, which is lost in the demo of course.

I respect people’s comments and the fact that people voiced them. That’s how they feel. Our scene made them feel this way, so we have to think about why and if there’s something we can do to make it better. I don’t think it’s right to just say, You’re wrong. You’re just looking at it wrong.” That’s not the way to go.

We were really sad that some people were so affected by it, because maybe they had been through something like that of their own. Maybe they had a terrible experience of their own that was triggered by the game. That was not intentional at all. We didn’t add the scene just to be controversial. There is a meaning to these two characters. There’s a lot more to them than just this scene.”

A final decision on whether or not the content will be cut from the game will be made after further testing.

We’re gonna see how people react to it when we test the whole game,” Wedin added. We’ll get opinions and stuff like that. We’ll see how we can present this in a good way. In a way that we want it to come across. Not just as provocative. That’s not our meaning at all.”