Greetings fellow gods, As some of you may already know, I've been under attack by a political group that attempted to infiltrate our community and influence my game design. I took my stance against them with probably [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1827386801310593108]the strongest words I could craft in a single tweet[/url], and the whole thing became a global character assassination attempt revealing the source of this attack. Now that the fog of war has lifted, you can find the gist of this whole drama described in many sources, like: - [url=https://ithardware.pl/aktualnosci/soulash_2_polski_tworca_atak-34967.html]ITHardware.pl article[/url] - polish press - [url=https://boundingintocomics.com/2024/08/26/soulash-ii-dev-stands-by-decision-to-not-include-same-sex-marriages-for-gameplay-reasons-i-showed-my-teeth-the-oppressive-people-left-and-now-we-can-continue-to-have-fun-in-peace/]Bounding Into Comics article[/url] - [url=https://nichegamer.com/soulash-2-developer-faces-harassment-for-not-adding-lgbt-romance/]Niche Gamer article[/url] - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHE_Tw6jCBM]Smash JT YouTube video[/url] - very fun to watch! - [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7AtkRdq30M]Super Virgin's video[/url] - great quality, quick written interview, support small creators! - [url=https://x.com/kwisc_/status/1828402584341651821]Michał Chwistek's summary tweet[/url] (polish) And more. You can find all my tweets on my [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski]personal Twitter account[/url] if you are still in doubt about what I said or what this was about after the lies created about me. Edit: Here's a [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1829750801146716570]rundown of what led to my Polish flag tweet[/url]. Edit 2: Some have begun to use the words "woke" and "anti-woke" concerning my stance, so [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1832333819816386896]I clarified I never used any of these words as I'm not an American[/url]. The main source of these heinous attacks was the /r/roguelikes subreddit, which I revealed later [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1828438901830090808]came with support of their moderator group[/url], including a popular [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1828139164782731296]YouTuber who added hate-inducing context while knowing no context and shared his tweet with over 4 million people[/url]. I want to repeat what I said on Twitter. [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1828484846911390022]This is over.[/url] Please do not harass anyone. The group has lost all credibility and is powerless, and the right thing to do is not to play into any of their lies. To address the allegations directly: I strongly believe in live and let live. [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1828304777349935429]I am not a bigot, and this was not against the LGBTQ community[/url], but the extremist political group that has been hiding behind a rainbow flag and pretending they are fighting for good. To all the good people of any background, you are welcome to enjoy my games and join our communities. We're gathering here to share our passion for games, and any bad actors who will attempt to stir that into something else will be removed quickly and firmly. Despite how the narrative was created around my Polish flag tweet, I made it very clear that it was about the suffering of my ancestors, what I've been through, and that the current attempt at inflicting social pressure to bend the knee to this ideology is nothing in comparison. And that was enough to trigger these extremists into thinking I slipped up in my anger and enabled them to go all in against me, which I proceeded to handle with calm explanations, addressing only [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1827764681618149839]good people like Xeloph here[/url], who gave me some benefit of the doubt and simply asked for clarification of my stance. But now this is over. As I said, we will be more strict in banning any attempt at stirring conversations away from our games outside the Offtopic channels on our [url=https://discord.gg/Y2dwG4c]Discord[/url]. Players who can't stand hearing "no" and keep pushing further to continue baiting the community in pointless directions will be removed. While challenging for me and my wife, as well as people who work with us on our [url=https://www.youtube.com/@wizardsofthecode7923]YouTube channel[/url] and art for the game, this experience will not change our approach to developing this game or prompt us to share our political views. We plan to get back to regular activity and discuss improvements for the game with you all very shortly. I'm very sorry you had to watch it from the sidelines as it all unfolded, not knowing what was happening. This was a real information war, and it was my first experience with something like this. I do not plan to become a controversial figure for views and reach - the stress is way too high and I like my dark hair. I just want to play games, make games, and care for my family. But I will also take it upon myself to privately help other developers who may fear of being targeted in the same way. Here's [url=https://x.com/ArturSmiarowski/status/1828870732463411204]my last tweet from yesterday that perfectly concludes this weird event[/url] in my life. If you wish to discuss this topic any further, please contain it here. I will start moderating Steam Community soon and get it back on track to be about the game. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Valve for handling moderation during the most heated moments. Thank you to everyone who helped me make my voice heard, Artur PS: I will do some hotfixing over the weekend to go through #s2-bugs list, and we'll resume regular update activity next week. PPS: Please do not write to Valve to clear the review bomb. I want any troublemakers to know this is not a place for them. PPPS: I haven't stopped laughing ever since I saw this today. Creativity at it's finest: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3319272545