The Angry Video Game Nerd vs. Digital Homicide – How It Would Play Out

Most players, including myself, came to know Digital Homicide through Jim Sterling’s epic struggle and battle against them. They are a prime example of a developer having no ability to take criticism. As a quick background, Digital Homicide came out of obscurity after Jim Sterling did a 10-minute playthrough video of their game The Slaughtering Grounds in November 2014. The game was low-quality, having been cobbled together from store-bought assets, poor game design and programming resulting in numerous glitches, and made the lists of being one of the worst video games ever made. Its reception dipped even lower once Digital Homicide discovered Sterling’s video and began attacking him (or her since they’re transgender) by means of reviewing his reviews, censoring them by means of copyright, and then suing Sterling for defamation, the latter of which got them banned from Steam and banished into oblivion.

The Angry Video Game Nerd’s Stance

A hypothetical scenario involving the Angry Video Game Nerd would be a modern analog of infamously poor-quality games in the past like Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing and the LJN library. He would treat Digital Homicide as the modern equivalent of low-budget and rushed titles from the NES era, only with modern graphics and PC controls, since none of them ever made it to consoles. Imagine what would happen if they did.

He would primarily focus on their most infamous title, The Slaughtering Grounds, by comparing it to Big Rigs, since their reputation is broken and a nearly unplayable mess with abysmal quality. He would also go on a tirade against the game’s use of store-bought assets instead of original creations, contrasting sharply with his frustrations over games that had some unique, albeit flawed, design elements.

Most Angry Video Game Nerd episodes use a four-act structure commonly found in works from the Sinosphere. Each episode begins with an introduction of the game, and his review would deepen the viewer’s understanding of the game. Things would take a twist when a sudden surprise hits the Nerd or even the entire room, leading to some bizarre moments for the Nerd, and the conclusion typically plays at the end of the episode when he either emerges victorious or in defeat. Some episodes don’t even follow the format, such as the basic reviews, or even the more elaborate ones such as Crazy Castle.

Back to the main topic, the twist is when things would take a meta turn when the Nerd discusses Digital Homicide’s lawsuits against critics, particularly against Sterling. He would also be incensed over a developer threatening legal action over criticism, especially considering that he has been reviewing, lampooning, and panning games for decades. He would also highlight Digital Homicide’s seemingly baffling business mindset by mocking their insistence that the games couldn’t be bad since the individual assets are of high quality, echoing other games he’s reviewed where developers seem to have no idea how to make a fun game.

If It Ever Got an Episode…

Using the four-act structure that I’ve already mentioned, the episode would start off with an homage to Jim Sterling’s confrontation with Digital Homicide. The Nerd, on the other hand, would begin with an introduction on Digital Homicide, and once he says his first negative thing about them, he ends up receiving a legal summons, but he would throw the pages away and start reviewing their games.

He would review games one after another similar to his other review compilations, highlighting how each one plays the same, leading to the Nerd getting angrier as the episode progresses. As an example for a few selected titles:

• For The Slaughtering Grounds, he would claim that it isn’t a game but a glorified tech demo built with premade junk. When he comes across a zombie, he thinks it would say “I was purchased for $25.” He would refer to the game as The Slaughtering My Brain Cells. Since there’s no exits and the game forces players to wait 16 minutes and 16 seconds, he would go stare at a wall for the same time, and using it for productive uses.
• Temper Tantrum will definitely make the Nerd throw a tantrum. He will point out the repetitive gameplay where the player walks around and destroys objects.
• They also created over thirty reskins of a mediocre Space Invaders knockoff, and the Nerd would point out the same gameplay with different assets, skyboxes, even going as far as if LJN kept putting out the same thing over and over, had they still been around.

Once he finishes reviewing them all, many of these games would end up on the Major Code Red category on his scale given that they are so bad. He would also go on a tirade about disrespecting the gaming industry by exploiting their critics and customers, and warn developers about being on the predatory side of the industry by being a force for harm. When he learns about the developer getting banned from Steam, he would take a cathartic victory by cheering over it, and his final remark would be you don’t sue the critics but instead make better games.