It’s starting to seem like Sega is walking into controversy on purpose with their latest Sonic title. If it wasn’t the unlockable latex bondage suit or promotion of furry paraphernalia, it’s the underlying tones of political unrest.
Sonic Forces, at a first glance, titillated long-time fans of the light speed platformer series. Sonic the Hedgehog leading an army against the evil robotic forces of Dr. Eggman, with you playing as your own original fursona on the frontlines.
But what we got was a significantly more political adventure than we originally thought. And parents have taken notice.
Sonic organizing a “Resistance” to counteract Dr. Eggman, whom came to power fair and square through the power of democracy, doesn’t seem like a coincidence in this day and age. Dr. Eggman being accused of “gerrymandering”, or being called “capitalist scum” during cutscenes seems like a clear political message, as does Sonic saying “Eat the rich” while breakdancing after you clear each level. Eggman’s odd nickname for more than half the game is “Dreggmanf”, and while in most games his usual goal is world domination by collecting Chaos Emeralds, his sole concern in this one is building a wall to keep the furries out.
There’s also a rather bizarre scene where Rouge the Bat and Amy Rose hold hands while getting abortions in front of a robotic Virgin Mary holding a “White Men Don’t Control Our Vaginas” sign, prompting the bot to explode and release a small, anthropomorphic squirrel in the likeness of Baby Jesus, which is immediately crushed under Amy’s hammer and fed into a wood chipper facing an American flag, which is promptly coated in baby squirrel Jesus guts before it’s thrown on the floor and set on fire for two anthropomorphic hedgehogs to have gay sex on.
“This is how school shooters happen. Does it have to be so hard in this day and age to raise a child that isn’t gay or a terrorist?” Said a concerned parent at GameStop, returning their copy of the game after their 7 year old child began refusing to do chores until they were paid a living wage.
Political messages aren’t completely foreign to video games. Bethesda’s latest Wolfenstein had a strong anti-Trump message, and Ubisoft’s yet to be released Far Cry 5 went so far as to promote radical Islam and denounce Western civilization. But Sonic is a game geared towards young children and impressionable autistic adolescents. Isn’t it wrong to force themes like this down the throats of those that don’t know any better? Conservative parents seem to think so.
Sega has yet to issue any kind of statement on the matter, but parents have already taken it into their own hands by boycotting and protesting the game, and have already taken it up with Republican lawmakers to try and get the game banned.
The much more popular Sonic game which released this year, Sonic Mania, has yet to come under any sort of scrutiny or controversy, and is probably okay for everyone to play regardless of political, ethnic, or sexual backgrounds.