The creator of towering monster Siren Head has called out Once Human for using a barely modified version of the character as the game’s first boss.
Siren Head is a 12 metre-tall semi-mechanical monster that, as the name suggests, has an emergency siren in place of its head. The work of artist Trevor Henderson, it’s the creepiest internet-spawned creature since Slenderman. And, like Slenderman, it’s been seized upon without its creator’s permission.
Right now there are over 20 Siren Head games on Itch.io, as well as a handful of YouTube short films. Several of these games have been streamed by Markplier and other creators, helping boost the character’s profile. But Henderson takes particular issue with its use in online survival game Once Human.
In a now-deleted tweet, replying to the use of the character in another upcoming title, Henderson replied, “‘Not the worst offender, though. That’d be this boss from the game Once Human with satellite dishes for a head named…uhh.. “Siren”‘”
He’s not wrong. When I first encountered this character I did a double take, it’s a pretty blatant copy of Henderson’s creation. Surely, with a game as high profile as Once Human, developers Starry Studio had to have contacted Henderson, and shared some of that sweet, sweet micro-transaction money with him, I thought. Apparently not.
The thread Henderson was responding to was about an upcoming Siren Head project. The originator of that project has since deleted the tweet which suggests it’s now not going ahead. Their defence was that they believed the character to be public domain. But all it takes is a quick search to discover whose mind it sprang from.
“Really easy to look the other way and pretend it was birthed out of the aether too, it appears,” Henderson tweeted. In another deleted tweet he remarked that “Even if I wanted to give permission for Siren Head to be used by other people.. in a way that makes money, the rights to do that are currently tied up with someone else.”
Does that mean there’s an official Siren Head game/movie in the works? It’s a tantalizing prospect. And if the rights are in the hands of a company with clout, could they bring their legal cannons to bear on Once Human’s creators? We’ll have to wait and see.