Risen 2: Dark Waters - ESRB Says Cover Is Too Bloody
Pirate-based sequel comes under fire from the ESRB for bloody box art.
Every now and then we'll hear about box art having to be altered, because the ESRB have gotten their knickers in a twist over certain elements in a picture that could irrevocably cause harm to the average shopper. A more recent edit that stands out was when the ESRB took offence to the zombie being hung by the neck on the Dead Island logo. Never mind the game was packed with more violent imagery that makes a hanging corpse seem almost mundane. But now it seems that Risen 2: Dark Waters has come under fire for it's box art, which has been deemed to be too graphic. The box art predominantly features a skull and bones, but this isn't what's causing all the trouble. Apparently the red pint surrounding the skull could be construed as blood and so needs to be changed. So creepy skulls are fine, but a bit of red paint has the power to traumatise any child who happens to look at it. The red tint has been change to a lighter shade of blue to go along with the ESRB guidelines, as was confirmed by publisher Deep Silver to GameInformer. "The color backdrop to the game's skull was changed to comply with ESRB guidelines pertaining to elements that could possibly be interpreted as blood. These changes pertain only to the artwork for North America, all of our other territories will use the original artwork."