It’s a common practice for games to becensored for mature imagery. Boards like the Australian games ratings board are notoriously strict, with depictions of drugs like morphine in the Fallout series beingoutright renamedto comply with restrictions.
WithUbisoftsfirst big title of the year,Assassin’s Creed Shadows, releasing soon in March of 2025, an interesting announcement has been made that the game is beingforced to complywith the Japanese game’s rating board CERO on some prevailing guideline restrictions.
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The gore in Shadows crossed the line for the board, and despite receiving the 18+ Z rating,minor tweaks to the dismemberment system have been made for the game’s Japan release, but the game will still be available in the country.
There has already been a history of Japan’s rating board censoring graphic depictions of violence, specifically when it comes to dismemberment and amputation of limbs.
For instance, theDead Space2023 remake wasnever releasedin Japan. That game’s dismemberment was simply too crucial for gameplay, with players having to dismember the limbs of alien Necromorphs in every combat encounter.
That said, Assassin’s Creed Shadows allows players to turn dismemberment on and off within the settings.While this feature will remain in other releases, it is forced off in the Japanese release of the title.
At the very least, the game won’t be outright unreleased within the country like Dead Space was.Given that Shadows is set in Feudal Japan, it would have been a very ironic misstep if Ubisoft hadn’t complied with Japan’s rating board.
Overall, rating boards across the globe tend to have guidelines specific to that nation’s culture.For instance, in America, while typical violence does just fine, aspects like nudity, sex, and extreme gore usually give gamesmuch more strict ratings.
TakeGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas’infamous “Hot Coffee” minigame, for example. This content depicted in-game sex but wasn’t released with the game; it was buried deep within the code. This didn’t stop the US ratings board fromutterly crucifying Rockstarfor their mistake.
Nowadays, topics like nudity, drug use, and violence have only grown more prevalent in gaming, but someone will always be there to speak against it. Even with games presenting the option to turn on and off these features, such as theno nudityoption inCyberpunk 2077, the fact that it’s there will still ruffle some feathers.
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So, taking into account the history of censorship in gaming, it’s actually not that surprising that Japan may have a few quarrels with depictions of graphic violence and dismemberment, especially with the game being set in its historical background.
It comes down to Japan bearing dismemberment as a major taboo.Games like the aforementionedDead Space,and evenThe Last Of Us Part 2, were incredibly censored within the territory for longstanding cultural reasons that don’t deserve much arguing.
But while those in Japan will have to play with the amputation system completely off, at least those of us in broader territories will still have the option at our disposal.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
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