Australia has developed quite a reputation for censoring games more often than most other countries. The latest game to encounter the standards of the ratings entity down under is
Outlast 2. The game was found to be in conflict with the Australian Ratings Board's definition of even its R18+ rating, which is what was assigned to the first-person horror's predecessor. The spoiler-free version of why it will be banned if not edited for Australian audiences is listed on the board's website under item 1a of the National Classification Code:
A broad and unspecific statement prohibiting games that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.
If you wish to know the specifics that caused the ratings denial, you can click through the spoiler tags to read the update first received by
Kotaku. The tags are in place because of genuine story spoilers many will want to avoid, although some may also find the details hard to stomach. Consider yourself warned for each.
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***As the lead character Blake yells at the creatures to get away from his wife, who is shackled to a platform above, “a female creature, her greyish breasts bared, pushes him onto his back, holds his arms to the ground and repeatedly thrusts her crotch against him. As Blake protests, saying “No! Stop that!” the creature thrusts again, before placing its face over his midsection and then sitting up and wiping its mouth. Although much of the contact between the creature and Blake is obscured, by it taking place below screen, the sexualised surroundings and aggressive behaviour of the creature suggest that it is an assault which is sexual in nature. The Board is of the opinion that this, combined with Blake’s objections and distress, constitutes a depiction of implied sexual violence. With no rating assigned to the game, Red Barrels can choose to edit the content and retry for the R18+ rating although it would seem to be crucial to the story, or elect to simply not release the game in Australia. In recent years Australia has also denied ratings to games such as
State of Decay and
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. In the former's case, Undead Labs elected to alter the game's content that was in conflict with the ARB, while the latter's creators instead chose to simply pass over releasing their game in Australia.
Outlast 2, in its current form, releases everywhere but Australia on April 25th.
We've got the full list of
Outlast 2 trophies - check the list for guides to unlocking them.