10 Controversial Video Games Everybody Totally Misunderstood

When in doubt, implicate a game in a murder. That always goes down well...

Bully T
Rockstar Games

Not even the most gasoline-aided wildfire will spread like a good ol' media controversy. Those behind the actual information are purportedly fighting for a specific cause, whilst whoever's on the opposing side are curious and seeking information - all while anyone in between just wants it to be over. Regardless of where you sit, either way, you're receiving updates as to what's going on at all times.

So, take a newsworthy angle that always guarantees traction, add in the most passionate and loyal bunch of fans this side of a wrestling pay-per-view, and you've got a hearty recipe for guaranteed headline-grabbing attention.

That said though, in the pursuit of creating said headlines, too many - far too many - outlets don't arm themselves with all the facts before kickstarting the most controversial angle possible. It's always far easier to scream "Hey, look at this!" than it is to know what you're looking at in the first place, and the following games most definitely benefit from the value gained in retrospection and hindsight.

10. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - The 'Graphic Rape' Scene

Hotline Miami
Devolver Digital

Whether or not Hotline Miami's graphic violence is in bad taste or not (personally, I'm going with it being f*cking glorious) isn't the point - what is, comes from the fact that at the very beginning of the game, there's an implied rape scene about to take place, which is quickly revealed to be on the set of a film.

Obviously, all many media outlets needed to run with were the words 'rape' and 'video game', and as such, to this day thousands of gamers still think Dennaton's sequel opens with the aforementioned act. In actual fact, the scene plays out as such: Your character knocks a woman to the ground, gets on top of her, drops his trousers - then the off-set director yells "Cut!"

That's it.

Again, whether even putting such a scene in a game is defensible at all is purely subjective - the reality is that HM2 has been saddled with something that wasn't even true - even resulting in a ban in Australia. Their ratings board described the scene as such; "He is viewed pinning the female down by the arms and lying on top of her thrusting, implicitly raping her (either rear entry or anally) while her legs are viewed kicking as she struggles beneath him."

As you can see above, this is simply not true. A horrific attempted act, sure, with questionable intentions even if you really like Dennaton as a studio - but an actual rape scene, it is not.

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Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.