THE LEAD SINGER of one of Ireland’s most successful metal bands was shocked to discover a project using his music features an anti-gay game.
Kill The F****t [which we'll call KTF] was released by the independent company Skaldic Games, based in LA, which is also behind The Shelter: A Survival Story.
Keith Fay, lead singer of Cruachan, and his girlfriend, model and actor Rachel Lally, both contributed their voices to The Shelter: A Survival Story. Music by Cruachan was also to be used within the game.
Now they have asked for their work to be removed from The Shelter after discovering the short game KTF was due to be included within The Shelter.
Where it all began
“I was contacted by the company [Skaldic Games] about six months ago,” explained Fay. “They said they were a new company doing a survival horror game called The Shelter.”
He agreed to feature both himself and the band Cruachan in it – the band’s music is used, and one character wears a Cruachan t-shirt – as “the game looked really interesting and it sounded awesome to have your band’s music in the video game”.
Lally then came on board and the pair recorded their vocal parts for the horror game over two days.
Shocking discovery
But yesterday, they began getting messages online asking them about their connection to Skaldic Games and the new game KTF.
“I got over 100 messages in to the [Cruachan] Facebook page,” said Fay.
KTF came to light after it was featured in a scathing YouTube video review. “I looked at the video and thought it was disgusting,” said Fay.
My younger brother, who is also my best friend, is gay. My girlfriend Rachel has been campaigning for a Yes vote in the same-sex marriage referendum.
The pair contacted the man who runs Skaldic games, and have moved to distance themselves from the company.
“It’s just so vile, I can’t put it into words,” said Fay of KTF.
“I told them we’re out – they no longer have permission to use my voice, likeness, or [Cruachan] t-shirt [in the game The Shelter]. All that has to stop.”
Lally also released a statement on her Facebook page after being contacted by fans.
KTF includes quotes such as “you want to chop my weiner?”, “I just dropped the soap”, “transgender kill”, “AIDs carrier eliminated” and “straight pride”.
Games reviewer Jim Sterling said he decided to feature the game because it highlights the vetting process on Steam’s Greenlight section, which is specifically for independent developers.
“No I don’t hate gays”
In a statement on its website, Skaldic Games said that the controversial game is to be featured in The Shelter: A Survival Story, on a cell phone on which the player can play mini games.
The reason behind this particular game is because of how tired I am of people being overly sensitive and how easily offended people are by every little thing, especially with LGBT issues. I have worked in the game industry since 2007, so I know that’s how the game industry pretty much is. I didn’t make this game to attack LGBT people personally, and no I don’t hate gays and think they should be treated farily [sic], but I made this game just to piss off those people that are way too overly sensitive, which includes straight people.
These people that think if you are even remotely homophobic, you are “hateful” and a “bigot”, and do everything they can to destroy you in every vicious way possible.. So I decided to go down a path that most developers are afraid to go down: to piss these people off by making the most overly offensive game possible to these idiots to prove a point.
The statement went on:
Why do you care so much? It’s obvious no one in their right mind would take this game seriously. If someone made a “Kill all straight white people game”, I would totally play it and have a laugh, as seeing it wasn’t made to be serious. Keep sending all the threats and hate mail though, its a fun read, and proves you have no time on your hands.
Skaldic Games said that an apology “ain’t gonna happen”, but added:
Of course we don’t endorse killing or murder of any kind. This game was not meant to be taken seriously.
The game was removed from the popular site Steam’s Greenlight section after complaints:
On its site, Steam Greenlight says that before posting a game, developers must agree not to post anything that contains:
Steam users can vote for which Greenlight games they would like to see made commercially available through the site.
Though KTF has been removed from Steam, it is still available on the developer’s website.
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