South Park has been known to satire society in controversial ways, so of course they would include this crude sensibility in their video games. It was recently revealed that in the upcoming game South Park: The Fractured But Whole, the difficulty level of the game will be determined by the skin tone the player gives their customizable character.
Eurogamer reports that the lighter your character’s skin color is, the easier the game is, while giving your character a darker skin tone makes the game harder. During the character customization process, Eric Cartman states, “Don’t worry, [skin color] doesn’t affect combat. Just every other aspect of your whole life.” Ubisoft clarified to Eurogamer that increased difficulty refers to how much money your character will earn and how other characters will treat you.
This is all meant to be commentary on how people of different races are treated in society. While it’s debatable that life is “easy” for all white people, it’s definitely true that there are many racial barriers that white people don’t have to worry about that people of other races certainly do on an everyday basis. In life, your skin color will determine how others act toward you, what kind of jobs people are willing to give you, etc. South Park: The Fractured But Whole is effectively mirroring this in the way it implements its difficulty settings.
In addition to race, South Park: The Fractured But Whole will also allow players to decide whether their character is male, female or other, whereas in South Park: The Stick of Truth the player had to be male, as well as determining if their character is cisgender or transgender. South Park: The Fractured But Whole is set to release on October 17 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
