Assassin’s Creed Shadows Censored By Japanese Ratings Board

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Summary

  • Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be censored in Japan for depictions of dismemberment.
  • While the setting for amputation violence will be forced off in Japan, it will still be an option in other territories.
  • This policy is the same reason why games like Dead Space have had issues releasing within the country.

In many cases, games are modified to remove explicit content, such as mature visuals. Strict boards, like the Australian Classification Board, are known for their rigorous policies. For instance, portrayals of substances like morphine in the Fallout series have been changed entirely to meet the required standards.

In March 2025, Ubisoft’s highly-anticipated title for the year, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, will be released. Notably, it has been disclosed that the game is being compelled to adhere to certain guidelines set by the Japanese rating board, CERO, due to some existing restriction standards.

In the game “Shadows,” certain violent scenes exceeded the acceptable limit for the board. However, even with its 18+ rating, minor adjustments to the dismemberment feature have been implemented specifically for the Japanese version of the game. Nonetheless, the game will still be accessible in Japan.

Historically, Japan’s rating board has a tendency to censor graphic portrayals of violence, particularly instances involving the severance or loss of limbs and dismemberment.

In other words, unlike other regions, Japan did not receive the Dead Space 2023 remake because its gameplay heavily relied on dismembering enemy limbs, a feature that was present in all battles against the alien Necromorphs.

Players have the option to enable or disable dismemberment in the game settings for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. This feature will likely persist in future games as well, but it has been automatically turned off in the Japanese version of the game.

At minimum, the game, given its setting in Feudal Japan, won’t be banned from release within the country like Dead Space was. It would have been quite an amusing oversight for Ubisoft not to follow Japan’s rating guidelines.

Ratings

Generally speaking, each country’s rating system has its unique set of standards based on the local culture. For example, in the United States, although moderate violence is often acceptable, elements such as explicit nudity, sexual content, or intense gore can result in harsher game ratings.

To illustrate, consider the controversial “Hot Coffee” mini-game from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This gameplay element, which included sexual content, wasn’t initially part of the released version; instead, it was hidden within the game’s code. Despite this, Rockstar Games faced severe backlash from the US ratings board for this oversight.

Currently, themes such as nudity, drug use, and violence are increasingly common in video games, but there will always be voices expressing opposition to them. Even though games offer settings to enable or disable these elements – for example, the no-nudity mode in Cyberpunk 2077 – the mere presence of such features can still stir controversy.

Given the past instances of censorship in video games, it’s not all that unexpected that Japan might take issue with graphic portrayals of violence and dismemberment, particularly when the game is set against its historical backdrop.

The essence boils down to Japan having strong aversion towards depictions of dismemberment due to deeply rooted cultural sensitivities. Consequently, games such as Dead Space and The Last Of Us Part 2 have undergone extensive edits when released within Japanese territories, a practice that can be attributed to longstanding reasons that seldom require debate.

However, people in Japan won’t be able to use the amputation system, but individuals living in wider regions will retain the choice to utilize it.

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2025-01-28 01:09