Upcoming 'friendslop' game slammed for using 'offensive' username in official trailer
'Friendslop' video games are everywhere right now, with the genre being defined by chaos, where pretty much anyone can jump in, and progression is never the aim of the game.
Although there were others before it, Fall Guys popularized the whole idea of ragdoll physics and overtook gaming charts like never before, while Among Us is often honored as the birth of friendslop in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From these tiny acorns, others have bloomed, with the likes of 203's Lethal Company, and 2025's R.E.P.O. or RV There Yet? also grabbing our attention.
This is where Dear Passengers enters the story, looking like it could take the industry by storm in 2026. Fasten your seatbelts and stow your tray tables because this one looks like it's already hitting a fair bit of turbulence.
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As the brainchild of FLEXUS, Dear Passengers recruits you as staff for the 'worst airline in the world'. With one player piloting the plane, others have to tend to the needs of the passengers and put out (literal) fires.
From what we can tell from the trailer, these tasks involve loading bags, fixing the plane, and even batting off pirates with wing-mounted machine guns.
In an era where there have been genuine concerns about airline safety and the world of plane news is often dominated by tragic crashes, some could argue Dear Passengers already isn't in the best taste.
Still, with the Kyiv-based developer reporting that Dear Passengers got 500,000 Steam wishlists within hours of its page going live, it's already going viral with nearly 43 million views on one gameplay trailer on X.
Speaking of virality, the game is also nabbing some unsavory headlines due to its use of usernames.
Featured prominently in the trailer, one player has the username Epst.J. A screenshot of it is even included on the game's Steam page, with the consensus being that this is poking fun at Jeffrey Epstein.
Others have noted that one moment features the Epst.J username character interacting with a passenger that has an uncanny likeness to President Donald Trump.
Although the POTUS has repeatedly distanced himself from the late sex offender, he's consistently mentioned in the Epstein files.
As for the plane connection, Epstein's Lolita Express was known to ferry several high-powered individuals to his infamous Little St. James island.
Other usernames we spotted were SixSeven as a nod to the TikTok trend, and PDaddy to presumably poke fun at Sean "Diddy" Combs' incarceration on two counts of transportation for prostitution.
Replying to one post on X, one angry gamer wrote: "Why the fk is a username like that in the OFFICIAL TRAILER for this game? Click on the link & it’s on the Steam page. Never playing anything from Flexus. Freaks."
Another questioned: "Did they intentionally make one of the passengers look like Trump? And is that pilot's name Epstein Jeffrey?"
A third complained: "Devs are hiring people for genAI and put in a weird Trump and Epstein reference in their trailer! 😀🔫."
Even though video games are no strangers to skirting controversy, and the friendslop genre feels like exactly the kind of place it would happen, FLEXUS is already in danger of putting people off.
Away from those who are complaining that you'd want to include any reference to Epstein, others are adamant that the devs are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.