Top 10 Horror Video Games That Had to Be Censored

This choose-your-own adventure style Horror game forced players to make decisions for the characters. Depending on your choices, and reaction time, they could narrowly avoid death or meet a vicious end. However, there was one death scene in particular that proved too violent for CERO, Japan’s version of the ESRB. The scene in question saw Josh cut in half by a circular saw. In most versions, you’d see it in all its gruesome, gory detail. But for Japanese players, the screen cut to black before the saw reached Josh, though you could still hear everything happening. Funnily enough, this scene is later revealed to be a fake-out, making it the only death in the game that doesn’t actually happen.

Both “Condemned” games are pretty violent, but it seems the sequel could’ve been much more so. In a rare case, developer Monolith Productions decided to self-censor the game before it was close to release. It did so out of fear of receiving an ‘Adults Only’ rating from the ESRB. At the time, Rockstar’s “Manhunt 2” was in the news for having to be heavily censored to avoid the same fate. While we can’t know the full extent to which “Condemned 2” was censored, producer Constantine Hantzopoulos gave putting someone’s head in a vice as an example of what was removed. Self-censorship didn’t stop the game from getting banned in Germany, however, just like its predecessor.

Although the first half of “Doki Doki Literature Club” plays like a rom-com visual novel, it transitions to an unmatched level of psychological terror. After the turning point, the player is confronted by increasingly disturbing sequences and deaths. When it received an expanded version for physical release, one of those deaths was altered, but only for PlayStation players. On both PS4 and PS5, Yuri’s death scene, in which she stabs herself three times, has the blood color changed from red to black. The sequence is still pretty unsettling, so we’re not sure what the censorship was meant to accomplish. Adding to the confusion is that the scene wasn’t altered on any other platform; even Nintendo let it slide.

“The Last of Us” is set in a dangerous world and it specifically doesn’t shy away from brutality to serve the narrative. Or, at least, it isn’t supposed to. There were certain violent aspects removed from the game depending on where you live. The European version removed all dismemberment and exploding heads from its multiplayer mode. The Japanese version was even more censored. In addition to the multiplayer censorship, all dismemberment and gore was removed from the story mode. Naughty Dog had to get creative with certain scenes, such as when Ellie finds herself the captive of cannibals. Here, the camera angle is changed to not show one man using a cleaver to prepare his next meal.

This cult classic arcade game from Namco was another beat ‘em up amongst many. But what set it apart was its immense violence and Horror themes. Players control Rick Taylor, who’s trapped in a twisted mansion and must use whatever methods they can to combat horrifying and disgusting creatures. When it was ported to the TurboGrafx-16 in North America and PC in Japan, much of what made it unique was toned down. Rick’s weapons were made less vicious, like changing a meat cleaver to a stick, while some imagery considered too unnerving or rude was also amended. That was on top of your regular graphical degradation that came from ports at the time; the arcade version looks significantly more disturbing.

“Martha Is Dead” found itself the subject of multiple news stories in 2022. Not because of its violent content, which it has in spades, but because one version was actually missing some of it. Set in Italy during WWII, it follows Guilia after her twin sister is killed and her search to uncover what happened. The game confronts the player with disturbing content, not only visually, but as something to interact with. That’s kind of the point of the whole game, yet Sony decided to remove the interactivity in certain scenes. “Martha Is Dead” remained unchanged on other platforms and the censorship came across as Sony deciding what its players should and should not get to experience.

If you’ve ever played a “Silent Hill” game, you know they can get pretty gruesome. “Homecoming” follows Alex Shepherd, a soldier trying to save his family from a Cult in the titular haunted town. It has some of the most savage moments of the series, which caused Konami and developer Double Helix a lot of trouble when they tried to release it internationally. It was delayed until early 2009 in Europe and Australia until certain scenes were censored. Sequences of body parts being drilled into and someone being cut in half were simply too brutal for their ratings boards to allow. Luckily, the edits were made so fans could at least still enjoy it.

“Resident Evil” is one of the scariest, most violent series in video game history. So it should come as no surprise that Capcom has had to censor it multiple times over the years. In the original game, the US and European versions had the live-action open altered to censor certain gore, as well as Chris Redfield smoking a cigarette. However, the majority of the franchise’s censorship has surrounded decapitations and dismemberment. Many ratings boards, such as those in Japan, refuse the sale of games depicting such acts. While most entries have had to censor levels of gore, there have also been other moments of censorship, such as the European version of “Code: Veronica” removing Nazi elements.

If the controversy surrounding a game makes another developer self-censor, you know the game must be pretty graphic. Rockstar found itself in a tough spot leading up to the release of “Manhunt 2.” It’s only natural the studio would want to top the already brutal original, but various ratings organizations around the world weren’t too thrilled about it. The UK refused to rate it while it earned an ‘Adults Only’ rating in the US. That’s essentially a death sentence, so Rockstar was forced to make changes. These included blurring certain executions and the removal of rewards based on how brutal your kills were. This got the M rating in the US, but it would take a year-long court battle before it was released in the UK.

“Left 4 Dead 2” is still an incredible multiplayer Horror game, but it’s had to deal with immense censorship. Valve was forced to change the cover as multiple severed fingers were deemed too explicit for the US, Japan, and Germany. Of course, it was the content itself that caused the biggest issue. As gameplay consists of mowing down hordes of zombies, many of which still look pretty close to human, Australia and Germany refused to rate it without heavy censorship. Valve agreed, removing all dismemberment, decapitations, and other bloody details. However, the developer seemingly never gave up on getting the original version released there. While it took 5 years for Australia to unban the uncensored version, it took Germany until 2021.