Unlike many claims here, this has nothing to do with progressives or social politics.

Claims of that sort are just trolls trying to obscure the real issue by covering it with mud. They are actually doing more harm than good by giving media outlets a BS take to put forward as "toxic fans" so they can ignore the legitimate issue with what was done here.

It's a bad decision the devs made because they felt bad about stuff one day according to them in the Steam Discussions for the game, so they retroactively stole content and removed player choice and agency to decide things for themselves.

It's tone deaf and disrespectful to their players who paid for this content. No update should leave the consumer with less than they had before.

It's denying a man steak because a baby can't chew it.

This isn't some gift they gave us, it was a transaction that users paid for, with a certain expectation that the content they purchased would maintain a certain level of integrity.

The new scene actually does make the game worse, because the one that was in game was an important narrative moment and what came after doesn't make sense without it.

On top of that, there is no actual suicide, it's just how you leave VR in the game, it's completely virtual even in the video game world's context and was not literal self harm.

It's also a dour cyberpunk setting about being mindraped by a computer and using excessive violence to escape. So it's not only a tone deaf omission, but also hypocritical considering all the gameplay literally relies on violence and the plot is designed to be disturbing in nature.

It also assumes that the long debunked idea that entertainment media causes violent behaviors is true. Something that's been getting claimed regarding books, movies, comics, games, TTRPGs, music, television, and plenty of other types of media, and the actual evidence suggest it either causes no harm, or actually helps due to being a safe outlet.

There is no evidence that VR is any different.

There is no situation where removing someone's choice is the best course of action, it is not the more moral stance to take.

It's just patronizing and disrespectful, and that has nothing to do with "snowflakes" or "SJWs" or any of the nonsense trolls want to accuse to cover the issue with mud so media outlets can claim it's just "toxic fans" rather than the devs stealing content from people who paid for it.

If they don't want to put stuff like that in other games, that's great, if they want to release a separate edition that doesn't impact the one people already have, that's just another choice option, but this is neither of those things. It's them treating their customers like babies and making a decision they had no right to make for them.

The toggle was great, a fine idea that kept everyone satisfied, but this current update is just a betrayal of trust and plenty of reason to never consider buying anything from them again.

What's to stop them from retroactively removing whatever content they decide to for whatever arbitrary reasons in the future?

If I can't trust them enough to not do that, then I can't trust them enough to have any future transactions with them. The studio and publisher are set to ignore on Steam, the game is uninstalled, I will take any opportunity to get a refund, and that's not changing unless this reverts back to the toggle system at least.

They don't get to make this sort of decision for me. The game is out, has been for years, and death of the author applies.

If they are going to take away my choice in the game, then I am going to make my decision with my wallet, and it has nothing to do with "SJW politics" or "cancel culture" nonsense of any sort. I just don't like being treated like a baby that can't make decisions for myself.

This is not the time for the devs and publisher to stubbornly "stick to their guns".

They screwed up on this one, and need to just own up to it and fix it.

The toggle was a great idea, everyone was happy with it. If it's "not good enough" then make the toggle to censor the content the default, but leave it in the game.

This also isn't about being "sensitive" to real world harm.

There is exactly zero evidence that fantasy violence in games, including VR, has any negative impact on real world violence of any sort.

In fact, the actual studies on this subject suggest it either does no harm, or actually helps by providing a safe outlet.

VR is no different than video games, comics, music, movies, television, TTRPGs, or any other form of entertainment media. Claims that depictions or acts of violence in a virtual setting do any harm have been debunked for a long time now. It is not a valid argument for doing something like this.

Put the content back, put it behind a toggle like it was before if you must, but there is no high ground here and being stubborn will only hurt the company that did it. There's no good reason to try and hold this ground. It's not helpful to anyone, is actually the opposite of sensitive as it patronizes their consumers and fans, and there is nothing to gain by doing it at all.

Just. Put. It. Back.

Also, they were review bombed because they deserve it. The change significantly impacted the literal content of the game and was a major change to the narrative, so negative reviews about it are legitimate reviews of the actual content, and not just people being salty about something that happened outside of the game.