Boyfriend Dungeon to update content warning in response to player concerns

Friends dungeon receives an update, but not to its gameplay. Responding to player concerns that the current content warning doesn’t go far enough, Kitfox Games tweeted on Saturday that it will update the post next week. The developer says that at this time, the warning “inadequately describes the events of stalking and emotional manipulation that exist in the story.”

Friends dungeon is a dating / dungeon crawler simulation in which players can build a relationship or romance with a number of sharp, dressed swords. Days after the game’s surprise release last Wednesday, people began to voice concerns on social media about a plot element involving one of the characters stalking and emotionally manipulating the player. People took issue with the fact that the content warning that appears when loading a new game does not adequately respond to potentially triggers that players might be subjected to. They were also concerned that some of the darker plot themes were not communicated well enough in the game’s advertising and the Kickstarter campaign. Currently, the content warning reads as follows:

Image: Kitfox Games

It is not unusual for developers to update or implement content warnings in response to changing attitudes regarding player protection and consent. Earlier this year, the Salvato team released Doki Doki Plus Literature Club! – an extended version of the deceptively disturbing Doki Doki Literature Club – which included improved content warnings that were not present in the original version. The updated content warnings allowed players to choose how spoiled they wanted to be about the plot in order to make an informed decision on whether to play. The game also included a setting that warned the player in-game whenever they were about to discover potentially upsetting content.

After the announcement of Kitfox Games, some players were still concerned and expressed interest in the developer implementing a feature that will allow players to opt out of the problematic content altogether. Friends dungeon already has a feature like this where players can opt out of receiving text messages from the player’s mother. However, withdrawing from text messages is different from withdrawing from parts of the story, as text messages are not storyline essential.