Players joke and say that the inability to walk definitely emphasizes divine status, and also recommend that Kotaku stop doing gaming journalism
On April 17, Supergiant Games studio conducted an almost three-hour broadcast of Hades 2, showing various locations, opponents, game mechanics and the abilities of the main character, who became Melinoe in the sequel to the original Hades.
Journalists from the Kotaku portal drew attention to the fact that the developers made the god of fire and skilled blacksmith Hephaestus an overweight wheelchair user with a prosthetic instead of a leg, writing a laudatory article that Hades 2 takes a responsible approach to the issue of representation.
“His appearance during the broadcast was brief, but his image has already caught the attention of fans as he looks like a massive bear compared to the rest of the gods. He also uses a wheelchair and has a prosthetic leg, which appears to be a reference to his limp in Greek mythology resulting from his fall from Mount Olympus.”.
In its material, Kotaku also provides several comments from supposed fans of the game who are very happy to see Hephaestus in a wheelchair.
Commentators on social network X are just laughed at the image of Hephaestus and Kotaku's attempts to present inclusivity as something really good in a game about gods.
“Classic Kotaku article. And they still wonder why they were forced to write manuals.”
“Nothing emphasizes power like inability to get up from a chair”
“People just imagine gods as fat disabled people”
“Thank you for the warning. Now I definitely won’t buy this crap.”.
G/O Media, which owns Kotaku, recently changed the format of the portal, by requiring authors to produce 50 game guides every week. News and articles have lost priority.
(news cover source: Supergiant Games)