The Warhammer 40,000 universe is violent and brutal. Unsurprisingly, the games based on this universe don’t skimp on blood and gore effects. The game I’m currently playing, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, is no exception when it comes to depicting violence. Visible flesh wounds on enemies, spurting blood, and severed body parts are, for developer Fatshark, part of the universe and therefore part of the game. I can understand that; it makes the game feel even more oppressive, more absurd, and the desperate struggle for survival becomes even more palpable.

In Germany, however, we have the USK, the Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body. This ratings board, funded by the games industry, takes on the official task of reviewing video games and determining their suitability for children and adolescents. Without a rating from the USK, a game cannot be distributed in Germany. Accordingly, Fatshark submitted Darktide to the USK for review before its release on PC and Xbox. The result: 18+, and thus not suitable for minors. This is the strictest rating the USK can assign. If even this is not enough, a game can be hit with a sales ban.

To ensure that ratings are not purely subjective, the USK has established a set of rules (which are not set in stone). However, this rulebook does not contain clear-cut rules like: “If you see blood, it’s an 18+ game.” On the contrary, the rules are formulated quite vaguely to allow the context of a game to be considered in the rating. One criterion, for example, is how human-like an enemy is. Even an alien is considered human-like if it walks and behaves like a human. So, when it comes to violence, the context is crucial. If it is an unavoidable part of the gameplay and conflict resolution, then a great deal is permissible nowadays. The USK does not expect a player in a war game to defend themselves with words alone. Accordingly, the violence in Darktide was not a problem, as the player was in a situation where they “had” to defend themselves with violence. The type and amount of gore also fit the universe and the tools/weapons.

Now, however, there is an outcry from players because Fatshark massively cut the gore for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland yesterday. Wounds are no longer visible, body parts can no longer be dismembered, and the amount of blood has been reduced. Unfortunately, Fatshark not only botched the communication, or rather, completely forgot about it, but they also overdid the censorship. They seem to have simply applied Japan’s censorship rules to the versions for Germany and Austria. They have since released a statement apologizing for the poor communication and admitting the mistake of over-censoring. Most of the effects will be back in the game next week.

The problem: Most of them. One effect will remain disabled. The corpses of killed enemies will no longer react to player actions. This was different before. You could inflict further wounds on the corpses and sever body parts. Now, they just lie there, unaffected by any player actions. According to Fatshark, these effects are being kept out to comply with the demands of the ratings board, i.e., the USK. Some players are not happy with this censorship at all, especially since the game was approved by the USK two years ago with all its gore. Many are asking why this change has become necessary.

To put it simply: Warhammer 40,000 Darktide is slated for release on the PlayStation 5. The release on a new platform requires this version to also be reviewed and approved by the USK. It seems that during this review, the USK came to a different conclusion than it did two years ago. Mutilating corpses does not contribute to conflict resolution or achieving the game’s objective. Therefore, it falls under unnecessary and excessive depiction of violence, and the USK has demanded that Fatshark remove this feature from the PlayStation 5 version.

However, Sony was likely not thrilled about this. A PS5 version with fewer “features” than on other platforms is a no-go for Sony. So, Fatshark was again pressured to release the same version on the PlayStation 5 as on the other platforms. Since the “dismember corpses” feature was not allowed due to the USK’s ruling, they aligned the versions the other way around: The feature is also being removed from the other versions. Ta-da – all versions have the same feature set.

And why Austria? Because Salzburg, unlike the rest of Austria, uses the USK rating instead of PEGI. Since the adjustments can only be made for entire countries, all of Austria is now suffering because of Salzburg’s regulation.

In summary, it must be said that Fatshark has messed up quite a bit here. The communication was initially non-existent and is now very sparse. If they had communicated openly about how the censorship came about, many speculations and a lot of anger could have been nipped in the bud. The bug with the over-censorship is, of course, the icing on the shitstorm cake. That said, I also can’t understand the overly emotional reactions from the players. The motto should have been: stay calm, ask questions, and wait for an answer. The motto was: rant, get upset, and complain. Shouting loudly unfortunately seems to be the new trend.