The first sentence of my YIIK: A Postmodern RPG review said, “Writing about sensitive subjects, like depression or suicide, can be a hard thing to tackle.” Well, that statement has now been given more credence as Ackk Studios, the makers of the critically panned RPG, is being accused of plagiarizing Haruki Murakami’s After Dark.
A Reddit post has shed light on the matter. It appears Ackk Studios have lifted words from Murakami’s tale in a very unsubtle way. Here’s the post from Reddit user malphasia:
“can i copy your homework” “sure just change a few things so it’s not obvious” from r/TwoBestFriendsPlay
Andrew Allanson, one of the few developers behind the game, the podcast The Dick Show after the game’s release, discussing the many controversies surrounding YIIK. Somewhere in the discussion, he describes his intentions with the game while also giving a mention to Murakami as an influence:
“I was trying to make the video game version of a Chuck Palahniuk novel or a Haruki Murakami novel. To try and do something a little different, you know? But it turns out, everyone just wants Ayn Rand-ian written characters where the main villain is like Wesley Mouch. You immediately know what to feel about each character.”
YIIK: A Postmodern RPG was released back in January of this year for PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and PS Vita. You can read my review where I said, “Every line felt like the writer was shoehorning big words into the dialogue so Alex sounded like an intellectual, but instead he just comes off as a huge douche.” I guess there was more truth to that than I initially thought.
The post YIIK: A Postmodern RPG Accused of Plagiarizing Haruki Murakami by Michael Ruiz appeared first on DualShockers.