Games News

RimWorld is a 2018 Canadian building simulation game by Ludeon Studios.

It was banned by the Australian 'Classification' Board on 28th February 2022. It has now been unbanned and passed R18+ after a successful appeal to the Classification Review Board on 20th April 2022. The appeal board explains:

A four-member panel of the Classification Renew Board has unanimously determined that the computer game, RimWorld is classified R (Reseicted) with Ihe consumer advice: High impact themes and drug use.

In the Classification Renew Board's opinion RimWorld warrants an R18+ classification because the themes and drug use have a high impact The overall impact of the classifiable elements in the game was high. The Review Board also considered the appeal of the game to be skewed to an adult audience

The game includes fantasy drug use, but in the Renew Board's opinion, the game mechanic ultimately provides disincentives related to drug taking behaviour, to the point where regular drug use leads to negative consequences such as overdose, addiction, and withdrawal. Players may choose for colonist pawns to consume drugs in certain scenarios, but this greatly hinders player progress, as characters succumb to addiction and must deal with long-term negative impacts of their drug use The drug use is depicted at a distance through a top-down perspective, in a highly stylised simplified, form The game also contains high impact themes that are Justified by context of surviving in an inhospitable fantasy world.

Ultreia is a 2021 adventure puzzle game by Olivier De Rop

A little robot becomes a pilgrim and crosses a wild post-apocalyptic world to find the meaning of life.

Australia's game censors have banned another video game. The game was 'refused classification' by the censors random rating generator known as the IARC, so could well be overturned oncr the human censors take over.

The censors have offered no explanation for the ban.

The game seems to have fallen foul of the censors over a release on Nintendo Switch.

Martha Is Dead is a 2022 first-person psychological thriller by Wired Productions

Wired Productions describes the game as follows:

Martha Is Dead is a dark first-person psychological thriller, set in 1944 Italy, that blurs the lines between reality, superstition and the tragedy of war.

Martha Is Dead is only recommended for an adult audience and is not recommended for players who may find depictions containing blood, dismemberment, disfigurement of human bodies, minor nudity, and self-harm disturbing.

It seems that Sony have found the game somewhat distasteful and have demanded cuts before it is allowed to be played on PlayStation. One example of controversial content is provided by a Forbes article:

While there may be a few instances of "too far" violence, the one that keeps getting brought up is that a player cuts off the face of their dead sister. And it's not just that they cut it off, it's that the action is actually a minigame where you have to move the blade around and peel the face off.

Wired Productions have down explained more in a statement:

Martha Is Dead is a narrative adventure recommended for adult audiences only, with play consisting of potentially discomforting scenes and themes that may distress some players. Both Wired Productions and LKA have always been open and honest about Martha Is Dead content, with the sensitive depictions in play consistently communicated to the media since the game was announced in 2019. This content is also flagged clearly and repeatedly within the game itself before play begins.

It is with regret that we have had to modify the experience on the PS5 and PS4 versions, with some elements no longer playable. After over four years of passion and hard work, Developer LKA now requires extra time to make these unplanned changes. Martha Is Dead, as a result, will still launch digitally on both PS5 and PS4 on Thursday, February 24th, 2022, but the physical retail release will be delayed to a yet to be disclosed date; although we anticipate this to only be a small number of weeks. Our physical edition will still contain the bonus content of a double-sided poster, digital tarot cards and Martha Is Dead Digital EP. We will update players with the date we ship this edition as soon as we have the information.

The PC and Xbox versions of Martha Is Dead are both unaffected by these developments and will launch with the full unedited gameplay as planned.

We look forward to players experiencing the work of LKA on Thursday February 24th, 2022.