NEWS
by Mark Barley
Square Enix Responds To Deus Ex Racist Accusations
There are rumblings around the gaming community that Deus Ex: Human Revolutions have some racial undertones, and Square Enix has taken offense.
If you haven't played the game yet there is a certain African-American non-playable character in the city of Detroit that you have the chance to interact with. The character is known as Lettitia, or "Trash Lady", and wouldn't you know it when you encounter said Trash Lady, she's actually digging through the trash. When you finally exchange dialog with Trash Lady it is reminiscent of dialog that would be found in the Civil War period in American history, and happens to be the same type of dialog that slaves from that period used...or so they say.
Speaking with GamesRadar, the mega-publisher defended the character.
“Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fictional story which reflects the diversity of the world’s future population by featuring characters of various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds."
“While these characters are meant to portray people living in the year 2027, it has never been our intention to represent any particular ethnic group in a negative light.”
Make the call for yourself, watch the clip from the game with Trash Lady below. Let us know what you think in the comments. “While these characters are meant to portray people living in the year 2027, it has never been our intention to represent any particular ethnic group in a negative light.”
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is out now for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. It's quite the excellent game, you're missing out if you haven't picked it up yet.