What does it take to ban a video game? Apparently, it’s not that hard to get your game banned in a few countries if it contains a bit of gore. We’ll take a look at some horror games that were banned. Fortunately, a large number of games on this list were later unbanned and are now able to be enjoyed by everyone.
10. The Last Of Us Part II
The Last Of Us Part II is a game that follows Ellie as the main character. It takes place during an apocalypse in which humans easily get infected and lose all of their reasoning and become monstrous creatures. The creature designs are quite detailed and grim, and the general tone of the game is quite brutal and depressive. However, that’s not why this game was banned.
Last Of Us Part II is banned in Saudi Arabia and UAE because it contains a same-sex relationship between two women. That does not align with the conservative traditions of these two countries.
9. Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 is one of the most popular if not THE most popular co-op shooter game. It takes place during a zombie apocalypse. You play as one of the survivors (which can be bots or real people) trying to survive the onslaught of the horrid undead monsters. It is a game that doesn’t try to be very realistic or scary - its main focus is to make fun strategies with your friends and have some casual shooter fun.
But still, Germany and Australia refused to classify the game in their countries due to the amount of blood, dismemberment, and so on. Left 4 Dead 2 is a game that doesn’t have to focus on violence to function, but once Valve released the censored version for those two countries - the difference was very noticeable and it is a HUGE downgrade in my opinion.
8. Dead Island
The Dead Island franchise takes a very non-serious approach with its zombies. While there are many more serious and gory depictions of the zombie subgenre, The Dead Island games got themselves banned in Germany and UAE.
Dead Island is a lighthearted and enjoyable game. To me, it’s strange why it was banned in the first place. It was banned for “High-impact gory violence”, but I still think it’s one of the more tame horror games. It was later unbanned in 2019 in Germany.
7. Outlast 2
Outlast 2 is a game dealing with many horrific themes. It takes place on Temple Gate, a town, deep in the wilderness hidden from civilization. The game’s main theme is showcasing how demented people can get by following a religion too far. The theme is a tad bit controversial, but that’s not why the game was banned in Australia.
The game was banned for 2 days. In a strange turn of events, the developers sent a version of the game containing a removed scene. The scene had the main character Blake was involved in some type of sexual violence. Fortunately, 2 days later, the mistake was fixed and the real version of the game was sent - which was approved straight away.
6. Carmageddon
Carmageddon is a game that can be about racing, but it doesn’t really have to be. To beat a level you have to either finish the race or destroy the opponents' cars OR RUN OVER CIVILIANS. Yeah, that part didn’t really go over well with a few countries.
It was banned in Germany, Argentina, and the UK. The game had to be heavily censored in these countries to get released. In the UK the pedestrians were changed to zombies. Ironically the game was later accepted in its original form in the UK.
5. The Darkness
The Darkness is an FPS game, inspired by the comics, in which the main character Jackie Estacado gets a weird power on his 21st birthday. He’s a hitman for the mafia that decides to take down Uncle Paulie and his goons with the newfound power of darkness.
Due to the violent tone of the game, it was banned in Germany and Singapore. Strangely enough, the sequel was released without a problem in Singapore even though it’s WAY more brutal. Germany got the censored version of Darkness while Singapore later allowed the game to be released in its original version.
4. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
The F.E.A.R. franchise is best known for its fast-paced first-person shooter gameplay and a gruesome, supernatural storyline. Removing the high amount of blood splatter and gore would certainly take away from the game’s enjoyment.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin got banned in Germany and Australia exactly for its brutal and unforgiving nature. The game features dismemberments, close-up shots of slicing up throats, and large quantities of blood spraying everywhere. Eventually, a month later, the game was successfully released in Australia without any censorship.
3. Silent Hill: Homecoming
The Silent Hill franchise is a franchise of some grim and gruesome games. Being one of the most popular horror franchises doesn’t come without some gory sequences. Silent Hill: Homecoming got the worst of it since it’s the only Silent Hill game that was outright banned.
Silent Hill: Homecoming was banned in Germany and Australia mostly due to a single scene. A scene in which the main character Alex wrestles with Margaret Holloway over an electric drill. The scene ends with one of them getting gruesomely drilled into, which was obviously a bit too much for some standards. Konami had to release a censored version changing the camera angles around for Silent Hill: Homecoming to be released in both countries.
2. Harvester
Harvester is a point-and-click horror game taking place in the small town of Harvest in the 1950s. The game has very dated graphics since it was released in the full-motion video era of games. The game mainly focuses on using satire and irony to tell a story about violence in the media, so the game itself has a bunch of violent scenes to show.
The game has been banned in Germany due to “High-impact gory violence” and quite possibly the most gruesome scene has been removed from the game in UK and Australia. The scene in question is a depiction of a mother being cannibalized by her children.
1. Hatred
Hatred is a game in which you play as “The Antagonist”. The game features The Antagonist going on a murdering crusade with only one goal in mind - to kill as many people as he can. Obviously, this did not go over so well with a lot of people.
Hatred was banned in Germany for being too gruesome. This is to be expected since Germany doesn’t really approve of these kinds of games, especially when the only goal of the game was to spread hate and murder as much as you can. However, interestingly enough it was even banned from Steam for a short period after it was released and it’s still one of the games that are not allowed to be streamed on Twitch.
