Neostream, the developer of the adventure title Little Devil Inside, has apologised for the “racist stereotypes” present in its enemy design, and will change these characters accordingly (via IGN).

The latest trailer for the game premiered in The Future of Gaming showcase from Sony. The hero travels all over the world, encountering dragons and sailing on the high seas, in a seemingly Victorian era setting. In the trailer, these tribal characters are barrelling towards the player, and their design has been criticised for their dreadlocks and large lips. 

Little Devil Inside seems really cool but hey 👋 what the fuck is with this character design here.

This was greenlit?? Really??? pic.twitter.com/rDlK26Zt8y

— Sadie Lee | 萨迪·李 (@slimekat) June 12, 2020

Neostream addressed the reception in a post published to Facebook. “Racist stereotypes of any kind were absolutely not intended,” said the developer. “We were not aware of the stereotypical connotations and wish to apologise to anyone who may have been offended by the character design.” These characters are the “protectors/guardians of a particular mystic region in the world of Little Devil Inside,” and the art team allegedly did not draw from “African and/or Afro-American human tribes” references when designing these enemies. 

Neostream will “remove the Dreadlocks,” “change the bold lips,” “change skin tone,” and “tweak the dart blower so it looks less like a joint” so that the design is no longer offensive. If these alterations are not enough, however, then the design will be scrapped and started again.

Little Devil Inside is coming to the PlayStation 5 and PC.