Supermassive Games' excellent Until Dawn is rife with several grisly scenes, but in Japan, they're being heavily censored.
GameSpot reports that a YouTube channel called Censored Gaming has created a video detailing just how many changes there are in Until Dawn in Japan. You'll want to avoid it if you're afraid of spoilers or violent imagery, but the video is an interesting study on just how different the Japanese version of the game actually is.
There's a specific moment in Until Dawn that involves a character's disemboweling that Japanese gamers won't see much of, as well as an instance where someone has to make the decision a la Heavy Rain to sever some fingers from their hand using a machete. Japan is no stranger to this sort of censorship, and in fact many anime series have been subjected to this sort of material removal from the airwaves.
Until Dawn is rated M for Mature in the United States, and for good reason. There's plenty of gore, precarious situations, and lots of other reasons to turn away from the screen if you're squeamish, but that's also part of what makes the game so enjoyable.
It's good that we're not stuck with a censored version, as the parts with gore have coincidentally been the most memorable for me as well, and I'm typically someone who doesn't bat an eye at that sort of thing. Given that this is a game that really makes you feel the weight of your decisions, it's effective when it shows this blood and gore as a result of what you think you did right or wrong.
Until Dawn has been scoring highly across the board, mostly due to its excellent gameplay, nods to adventure gaming and horror flicks from eras bygone, and its gripping, twist-filled narrative. Though I'm hard at work reviewing two of the biggest games of the year, I've spent hours with this gem so far, and I still haven't yet unlocked all its secrets. It's very much a game I'd recommend to anyone looking for something "different" or off the beaten path.
As far as the censorship goes, however, it's unfortunate that the game has been neutered in such a manner when it seems as though Japan allows some more extreme examples of graphic violence in other games. In any case, it's worth picking up if you live there and if you don't, grab it to support the developer to continue creating games like these worth playing.
