Resident Evil Requiem Criticized for 'Immersion-Breaking' Gore Censorship in Japan

Resident Evil Requiem released last Friday, and while many players are slicing up zombies as Leon S. Kennedy and creeping around as Grace Ashcroft, players of the Japanese version have noticed something is amiss. Namely, Requiem’s censorship of gore in its home country is being criticized for being immersion breaking and uncreative compared to past games in the series.

Warning! Resident Evil Requiem spoilers follow:

With Resident Evil being one of Japan’s major survival horror series, Capcom has previously come up with creative ways to censor domestic releases to meet the strict requirements of Japan’s CERO game ratings board. As The Gamer pointed out, in Resident Evil 7’s Japanese release, Capcom replaced the decapitated head found in a fridge with a photo of the deceased character. Other times, gory scenes (particularly decapitations) were removed entirely in Japan, including some of Leon’s most brutal death scenes in Resident Evil 4.

In a pre-release interview with Japanese news site Game Watch, Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi commented on the CERO Z (18+)-rated trial version of the game, noting: “While it's not completely identical to the global version, I think that the content you will experience in (the Japanese release of) Requiem is quite comparable.”

However, many players of the Japanese version have since voiced their dissatisfaction with censorship in the final release.

As one player of the Japanese version pointed out in a (NSFW) Reddit post, Capcom started to show cutting off limbs in Resident Evil 4, implementing a workaround whereby gore and entrails would be blacked-out. With Resident Evil Requiem, Capcom has also opted for blacking out the gore, however, this has extended to covering whole missing areas of bodies in black to the point where it is really noticeable.

For example, in one puzzle in Requiem, you have to find an artificial heart and lungs to place inside a dead body in order to get the Level 2 ID wristband. In the Japanese version, the entire upper body and the heart and lungs themselves are completely black. As the Redditor noted, this “censorship is way more noticeable imo, to the point where it really kills immersion.”

Although many longtime Japanese fans have come to expect domestic releases of Resident Evil games to be censored, many opined that Resident Evil Requiem’s censorship was more excessive or distracting than previous entries. “I get that restrictions are unavoidable but the problem is that it’s gotten worse from RE4 onwards. If the censorship was on the same level as RE4, I wouldn’t have any complaints,” tweeted one user in Japanese. Despite saying the game lived up to their expectations, a Requiem completer noted, "The CERO censorship (blacked-out sections and stuff you couldn’t see) felt so jarring and overemphasized.” Another user added, “It really bothers me that although blood during cutscenes is red, damage dealt to zombies (headshots or severed arms) is black.”

Resident Evil Requiem players on Steam also reported that the Japanese version of the game on PC is censored too, with at least one English-speaking user requesting a refund because of it. Some users on X have recommended that those in Japan who want the full, gory experience should get the uncensored overseas releases on Steam (such as the UK version), noting that they have Japanese language support.

But why is the Japanese version censored in the first place? In order to get a game physically released on consoles in Japan, it has to pass CERO, the country’s ratings board. CERO has five age categories, the highest being CERO Z (18+), which Resident Evil Requiem falls under. However, even CERO’s top age rating has historically cracked down on gore, particularly on depictions of severed body parts, decapitations, and body horror. Previously, The Callisto Protocol’s Japan release was cancelled because developer Striking Distance Studios was unwilling to make the changes demanded by CERO’s rating board, as such censorship would compromise player expectations (according to the studio’s tweet).

For download-only games, publishers can try and get an IARC (International Age Rating Coalition) rating instead, as IARC is supported by many online storefronts in Japan, such as the Nintendo eShop and PlayStation Store. However, for physical console releases, games have to pass the CERO board. It’s worth noting that if a game fails to pass CERO the first time, the developers not only have to make changes to the content, but they also have to factor in the time it takes and the cost of paying a review fee again. In addition to the review fee, publishers have to pay a porting fee for each of the platforms they want to release a physical copy on. This makes gaining a CERO rating costly in terms of both time and money (especially for indie developers).

Although Capcom is far from a cash-strapped indie developer, CERO’s strict censorship of gore, combined with Resident Evil Requiem’s close-up, realistic depictions could have prompted the company to play it safe by shading problematic areas in black.

We’ve got plenty more on Resident Evil Requiem, including the hunt for the solution to its cryptic Final Puzzle solution, which has been confusing fans for the past week. Today, one person does now appear to have solved the Final Puzzle — but the mystery around the challenge remains, as it's unclear exactly how they did it.

IGN's Resident Evil: Requiem guide will help you every step of the way through RE9. Take note of these key tips and tricks before you get started, and focus on finding these important items early. Plus, our comprehensive walkthrough will make sure you don't miss a single Bobblehead or file as you try to survive from the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center all the way to Raccoon City.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.