© Square EnixCyberpunk 2077 made headlines for many reasons when it launched late last year, but a more pressing issue related to the game’s “braindance” sequence triggering attacks.
After some debate, it was quickly patched, and Microsoft confirmed that it would improve certification procedures to prevent it from happening again on its consoles. However, reports suggest that Square Enix’s newly released Balan Wonderworld also contains a scene that could potentially cause seizures.
The report comes from YouTuber Bigdaddyjende, who uploaded the latest boss images from the PS5 edition of the game. There are two segments in which bright, rapidly blinking white lights appear.
WARNING: We strongly recommend that you do not watch the video if you are at risk for an epileptic seizure.
like you really want to take a look, this happens twice at 11:35 am and 12:40 pm. For obvious reasons, we have not embedded the video on this page.
Liana Ruppert from Game Informer, who addressed the issues related to Cyberpunk 2077, released the following PSA on the issue:
When I first started watching the scene, you can watch in the video at 12:40 pm (but I strongly advise against it or to be careful), I had to turn it off immediately. Immediately my right side fell and I felt the beginning of an episode. I stepped out. I did my usual “check-up” on myself, turned on safer tech settings and watched again, this time at a slower speed to cancel out the quick fire effect that I know is a trigger. What I saw – hopefully – is just a pre-launch glitch, because if this scene was intended, I’m concerned that security checks were broken. I can’t imagine how this could possibly have passed the necessary safety certification process if it was meant to be.
The scene above not only uses flash effects, but quickly fires a series of white flashes in the background. The quick succession is immediately dangerous, which is why I created a PSA on social media to issue a warning. Since that tweet went live, I’ve been in contact with countless people, including developers and other QA developers, who said they weren’t even epileptic, but felt “strange” after watching. My husband, who had no previous problems with epilepsy or neurological triggers, complained of dizziness before throwing up. Several others reported the same.
It is not certain whether this will affect the Switch or Xbox versions of the game, but Square Enix released the following tweet about the problem, confirming that it is a known bug:
If you’ve already bought the game on Switch, PlayStation or Xbox, we highly recommend downloading the patch before loading it.