A Persona 4 Golden mod has players divided after calling certain events cringe despite the series’ long-accepted use of fanservice and anime cliches.

The mod called “Remove Cringe Events” removes multiple events such as:

• Hot Springs
• Camping Trip
• Cultural Festival
• Cross-Dressing Pageant
• Group Date Cafe

The response is similar to the recent Starfield controversy and some users have highlighted how some reactions could be considered hypocritical.

Meanwhile another user remembered that “You control the buttons you press“; reminding gamers that they should be empowered to curate their own experiences when playing video games. Whether that means installing mods, setting self-imposed limits, and other ways to have fun.

The creator of the mod responded to the controversial naming of the mod, saying that it was just “an easy term to catch all of the events”. The creator offers no particular insight as to why they used that word in particular.

You can read a description of the mod below:

Lets you remove the hot springs, camping trip, culture festival cross-dressing pageant, and group date café events from the game.

By default all of these events are removed however you can change this in the mod’s configuration so only certain ones are.

(I realise the mod’s name is a bit blunt and people may have a problem with that. It was just the best name I could come up with without literally naming every event it removes like the 32 bit version. It’s not meant to be a serious commentary on the events or the game)

The Persona series is known for its cute characters and RPG gameplay mixed with VN-style dating and social events.

The mod may represent a recent trend of consumers vocally admonishing fanservice.

Persona 4 Golden is available now on Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5