Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise. This was necessary in order to explain the context behind the controversial scenes, to foster discussion if they were controversial. Nonetheless, we have attempted to be as vague as possible and avoid spoilers.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise director and writer Hidetaka Suehiro (SWERY) has stated some scenes will be updated, after being “sanity checked by a team that included diversity” due to some of its characters.

Editor’s Note: The following segment of the article contains spoilers for Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise.

The issue for some seems to stem from characters that are transgender. Some characters are disgusted by them, and use the wrong pronouns and names they had before transitioning (or “dead naming”). This is condemned by most of other characters, though they do not act to prevent or openly condemn it.

Main character Francis York Morgan openly condemns this, focusing on a person’s actions being more important than who they are.

Prejudice one of the transgender characters suffered led to them attempting radical action to “purify” their bloodline, which facilitated the death of others. However, that character’s fragile mental state was taken advantage of by others to make them perform evil acts.

York condemns the character, saying their past does not justify their actions that harm others.

It is unclear whether the outcry has been over these transgender characters were treated by others (despite it being portrayed as a negative) or one of these characters performing evil acts.

The game also features a character with severe mental disability, leaving them in a child’s mindset.

Now, SWERY has tweeted that the scenes will be rewritten after being “sanity checked by a team that included diversity.” After apologizing on having to rely on Google Translate to put his message into English, SWERY stated the following.

“Dear DP fans.
I would like to tell important message.

I realized by pointed out from friends,
I might have hurt transgender people in my scenario.
It wasn’t intentional. I am really sorry for that.

Some scenes will be sanity checked by a team that included diversity.
And I will rewrite that scene ASAP.

So please continue to support Deadly Premonition.

I am the one writing the scenario.
So the characters are not responsible. My fault.
Please Don’t hate them
SWERY”

The news has some comparisons with what happened to Catherine: Full Body in 2019. The game’s developers dealt with a wide-spread misunderstanding of how a transgender character was portrayed in one of the game’s endings (an essential “alternate reality” where some fans felt the character had not changed their gender).

One voice actress for the game later claimed that “the localization team took the translation very seriously in terms of trying to adjust bigotry represented in the Japanese version.”

You can find the rundown of Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise (via Rising Star Games) below.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is available now on Nintendo Switch.

Image: Rising Star Games