8 Times Censorship Almost Ruined Your Favourite Video Games

5. The Last Of Us Almost Lost Its Most Brutal Moments

The Last of Us' single player offers an unflinching look at living in a ravished post-apocalyptic world where everything is trying to kill you, but its most brutal moments almost never made it into the game at all.

Expecting to be either banned or heavily censored in certain countries, Naughty Dog pre-empted the strict ratings boards of Australia and Germany by altering some of the violence for the entire international release. Thankfully though, the major changes only impacted the game's multiplayer.

Removing the more violent options to dismember other players or pop their melons with headshots, the gore was turned way down in territories outside of the USA.

In a way it was a smart move, as by sacrificing the multiplayer the developers allowed the single-player to to pass through the censors virtually untouched. Still, it's a shame that the more brutal animations didn't make their way over to the multiplayer internationally for the sake of a few countries, as it could have made the already visceral matches even more intense.

Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.