Video Game Nasties

condemned

Condemned: Criminal Origins & Condemned 2: Bloodshot

A survival horror game of the highest order, Condemned: Criminal Origins and its sequel Bloodshot gave us more than a few scares when they were released. The violence and shock factor didn’t leave much to the imagination. It was a bit too much for the Germans however, who banned both titles.

Germany’s censorship laws are some of the strictest across the world, and whilst they understandably veto any video game depicting a swastika (hence the likes of Wolfenstein being banned), they are also extremely sensitive when it comes to general cruelty and the portrayal of violence.

As a way around this, once banned, a games developer will normally quickly re-jig the graphics engine so any enemies are reinvented as aliens spurting green blood. Cunning. In Condemned’s case though, it would have left far too many plot holes to make any such changes to the core game, leaving German gamers no choice but to order it from neighbouring country Austria instead. Ha! Take that, censors!

 

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