Gaming News This video game that has garnered millions of views on YouTube hides a dark reality!
Do you know “Yandere Simulator”? This mix of a hitman and a dating sim exploded on YouTube in 2015. The goal is simple: kill your classmates to date the boy of your dreams! A crazy, flashy concept… hiding an equally dark reality.
If you were on YouTube in 2015, you couldn’t miss the Yandere simulator phenomenon: more than 10 million downloads at that time, according to its developer “Yandere Dev”. The game features Ayano Aishi, a high school girl who is in love with Taro Yamada, her “senpai”. Problem: She’s not the only one interested. To achieve her goals, the heroine is ready for anything: create “love interests” to distract attention, kidnap her little comrades or kill them.
The title is heavily inspired by Japanese anime, specifically the character of “Yandere”. A concept used to refer to girls who appear sweet and innocent but actually display an extreme, violent, even psychotic, devotion to their love interest. In the skin of Ayano Aishi, Everything is allowed: kidnapping, torture, poisoning, electric shock or simple stabbing. In addition, Yandere Simulator includes a skill system that will vary your approach. For example, if the heroine improves her biology skills, she will have access to poisons from the chemistry lab. Thanks to the Drama Club, she will be able to hide her identity during the murders. Almost infinite possibilities, like a hitman, but still hampered by many bugs: NPCs seeing through walls, disjointed 3D models, objects floating for no reason.
A developer from scratch
Pitfalls that can be explained by the history of the developer, who is far from being a professional in his field. Originally, Yandere Dev, whose real name is Alexander Mahan, was passionate about the fighting game Skullgirls, which has a 100% female cast. So much so that he decides to create a fan game to impress his studio, Reverge Labs, who ultimately doesn’t even bother trying it. Frustrated, Mahan started the Yandere Simulator project in 2014. He can’t really code, but uses several free tools, including 3D models of the engine Unit (That’s why all characters look the same). He proceeds in the same way with the decorations, taking up elements again on the right and left. This heap of clutter is felt in the lines of programming as it makes “spaghetti code,” a derogatory term for poorly structured and poorly optimized software, hence the bugs and dropped frames per second. Still, the software works at the time, and that’s all that matters in the end.
So Yandere Simulator 2014-2015 spread like wildfire. Personalities such as Pewdiepie, one of the greatest English-speaking videographers of the time, but also Dooms, Deolynk and Squeezie in France multiply the videos related to the game. We’re talking tens of millions of views. Its developer then regularly offers new content that perfectly fuels the buzz. Despite its flawed technique, the whole is unanimous thanks to its original concept and varied gameplay.
Increasingly complete over time – and released by many developers to this day – the title is never considered complete by its creator. “In the future, Yandere Simulator will have more stylized 3D models in the style of Japanese anime, with character designs a la Danganronpa or Persona. says Yandere Dev in a video youtube Released in 2016. The final version should also contain more lore about the heroine, but also more enemies. “Every week a new rival will fall in love with Senpai, it will be necessary to eliminate her in order to be able to confess (her feelings, ed.). The levels will always be more complicated to complete, ”he explains in the same content.
Yandere Simulator will never be released
Silhouette of the stolen characters
Because yes, Yandere Dev has been accused multiple times of stealing other people’s work. “He used my art without mentioning me,” says artist Maika Sozo, for example, in 2017 Facebook. “It hurts a lot to know that he’s taking advantage of someone else’s art without asking permission,” adds Kageouji tumblr. Faced with these allegations, YanDev easy answered “Have you heard of Andy Warhol? ’, referring to the famous pop art master’s serigraphs, specifying that he only ‘hijacked works’. These artists tried to settle through legal channels, but no compromise was found. That’s not all: on some forums, like 4chan, Yandere Dev has gained a dark reputation. He is particularly known for sexist remarks, abuse of power or much worse.
Several members of the team even distanced themselves from the project because the development was ambiguous. At tumblr In 2017, Deelekgolo states that the game has taken “a perverted turn” and that it “disgusts” him. Allegations that haven’t really hampered the production or popularity of Yandere Simulator. Even today, thanks to him Patreon, YanDev continues to collect donations from its admirers who are dying to see a definitive version of the title. Some think it will never happen. Others, like “Homemade Meal‘, went straight into making a fan game, almost a clone, of their favorite game. YanDev did not appreciate the initiative.
