Japan Censors Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Removing Body Gore – Push Square

GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpPush SquareGuestLogin or Sign UpComes with a CERO Z ratingThe video game ratings board for Japan, CERO, has announced a censored version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be released in the country. The PS5 title will come with a CERO Z rating, meaning it can’t be sold to anyone under the age of 18. On top of that, features and options in the game relating to bodily gore have been removed completely.So the release can “comply with the regulations of the reviewing organization”, dismemberment has been taken out of the game. This includes a toggle in the settings menu that lets you turn dismemberment on and off, and cutting an enemy’s head and limbs off isn’t possible in the Japanese release. “The way severed body parts are depicted has also been changed,” a Ubisoft post on Twitter confirms.This isn’t the first time an Assassin’s Creed title has been censored in Japan, as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was changed for similar reasons.We recently published an Assassin’s Creed Shadows PS5 review, having played four hours of the open world game. “It’s not bigger — a good thing for many — and it does appear better than what’s come before it. With Assassin’s Creed Odyssey under the belt of Shadows’ lead developer, that’s high praise. It could well be the peak of Ubisoft’s RPG take on the long-lasting franchise so far,” we concluded.Our four hours spent in Feudal JapanAssassin’s Creed Shadows releases for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on 20th March 2025. Will you be playing the game? Avoid the Japanese version in the comments below.[source x.com, via videogameschronicle.com]About Liam CroftLiam grew up with a PlayStation controller in his hands and a love for Metal Gear Solid. Nowadays, he’s found playing the latest and greatest PS5 games as well as supporting Derby County. That last detail is his downfall.Comments 82Really not sure why their goverment did this, like do they think their gamers can’t handle it or something? some of their films are brutal prime examples being Ichi the killer and Battle Royale.Funny old world, innit?When i was a kid trying to get my anime fix, we had dubs in the West that turned cigarettes into lollipops and beer into orange juice. Nowadays it all seems to have done a 180, with the West becoming more mature and the East more censorship happy.Removed – inappropriateRemoved – inappropriate@Oram77 I think there is a perception that there is a difference between watching it happen in a film and controlling it, doing it yourself, in a game. I personally disagree with that take but I think it’s understandable. Japan has usually been a bit more reserved about violence in games.That’s fine, I can still play Shadow of Rome on PlayStation 2 🍖 🌹Weird because I lopped off many a limb/head in Rise of the Rōnin@themightyant Maybe the Japanese Goverment are sensitive, But I would argue that most Japanese gamers are annoyed by this censorship.Removed – inappropriateCome on now.everything should be in the game.of course you have to be 18 plus to play this game.but dont remove nothing.word up sonYeah Japan are pretty weird with violence in video games so this was expected.@Oram77 I don’t know about that to be honest,.I mean there’s a ton of stuff that comes out of japan, of the adult stuff I mean and it’s both violent and very wrong/sus, so I think it’s just what they want as per set of rules, and considering this games backlash for cultural reasons and history, I think this is more of a punishment rather than ” protection” of their gamersI had no clue Japan was this prudish around violence in games. I thought that it was mainly Australia the censored games. You learn something new everyday.@wiiware Not the first, Shay and Alexios/Kassandra could do it.So stupid. Just like censorship of sexuality. If the game is rated M (or the equivalent depending on territory), then there should be no censorship, period.@wiiware their media is as violent and gory as any. Compare Battle Royale to The Hunger Games. The western version is much more censored and less bloody.It does seem like this level of censorship is true of videogames in Japan though – not just an Assassin’s Creed thing.@SquawkingTurtleSo many Capcom remakes and Shadow of Rome completely forgotten. Damn it, Capcom.Censoring this seems odd considering Japanese culture ie anime@wiiware A lot of bad takes there.The popularity of those franchises in the different regions is mainly down to the gameplay loop, not the content. And it’s not like Monster Hunter isn’t a massive franchise in the west either.The violence in MK1 isn’t realistic either. It’s graphic for sure, but it isn’t realistic.And I’m not gonna touch your last paragraph, other than it’s xenophobic nonsense.That’s strange indeed… Japan has some of the most gory comics and movies ever made.@Perturbator people need to watch the anime Death frenzyThat’s too bad. Censorship never makes sense to me. Hopefully for those interested they can import our something to get around it.Ratings in Japan aren’t handled by one agency. It’s been a while since I’ve looked these things up, but when it comes to games, computer games and console games are rated by different agencies. Consoles are rated by CERO which are controversially strict. I think their reasoning is that consoles, more so than computers, are ‘family’ entertainment machines, so they are overly strict in what’s allowed. Now, I’m not defending them, by any means, but they are taking the (arguably) realistic approach that even adult games could be seen by young kids if it’s on the living room tv, and they tend to take that to an insane degree. I seem to recall Smash Bros. running into problems because of potential upskirt viewing. Needless to say there’s a lot of controversy over how they do things, especially among game creators.Probably best to limit sales in Japan anyway considering how much they have insulted the country with this game…@neillaw blown out of proportion, just hyperfixated on as your classic woke dei vs basement incel talking point.@neillaw I for one wont be buying anything ubisoft again after what they’ve done to Japan@Oram77 Never watched the anime, only the manga (known as Shigurui in Japan)Removed – flaming/arguing@PrincessPeach11 Either way you know how graphic that is.@EchoRange no actually, there are valid reasons, but you keep your fixation on your own personal issues as they are projecting@PrincessPeach11 it was the final straw for me, I used to like Ubisoft even with the constant mainstream battering they took lolUhm, okay. I guess.@EchoRange You uh…you might want to actually look at what Japanese gamers are saying before dismissing something as a basement incel talking point.@dskatter found two voices amplified on a search, where are the masses I’m supposed to be seeing?@dskatter To be fair, they were right about Veilguard, was just a vocal basement dwelling minority criticising it, the majority went out and bought it in the end@EchoRange @neillaw @PrincessPeach11 @dskatter Oh my, can’t stop laughing “what Ubisoft has done to Japan”… THE INJUSTICE! 😂Here come the white weebs, fighting for Japanese culture, while Japanese are like “Uhm, where’s the problem here?”Removed – trolling/baiting@PrincessPeach11 what has Veilgard got to do with this, alt?Removed – trolling/baiting@tameshiyaku it’s actually a bit odd how you’re acting… There are legit issues and you’re hiding them under some culture war you have clearly spent way too long invested inQuite pitiful really, open the front door and go outside once in a while 🙂Removed – disrespecting others@dskatter I wouldn’t bother trying to educate, these people are lost in their narrative and can’t see issues when they actually appear because everything is so black and white to themToo much time spent involved in online bickeringWill never understand literal white knights trying to defend a country that can very much speak for itself.It’s so weird. Their movies and anime, are often ultra violent and gory.
So why censor video game?@DonJorginho basic play tbh, know you’re on the side of immorality, create or latch on to a small issue that makes your opponent look like the villain, profit.@neillaw Well saidRemoved – flaming/arguing@DonJorginho these white knights are probably indifferent to the issues around them that actually matter.Wow, what has happened to this thread? The amount of gas lighting in here is unreal…Japan has a lot of old traditions that don’t jive well with the modern ones.@JorutoHayabusa Exactly man, I do think Ubi dropped the ball on some inaccuracies that they apologised for, but once they apologise and make up for that issue, that should be the end of it.Only grifters or those misinformed still are fighting this nonsensical social media war.Removed – flaming/arguingMakes you wonder what certain countries will do when GTA 6 come out 😂😂😂😂@PrincessPeach11 it’s always good to have a laugh 😉Do we expect this game to sell in Japan? From everything I’m reading it’s very controversial over there.I’ll never understand the censorship system in Japan. In my late teens myself and a couple of friends used to frequent a now defunct shop that sold under the counter video nasties and I purchased a couple of Japanese movies which were bloody horrible to say the least..fast forward to my early 30’s and I was able to find movies such as men behind the sun and the guinea pig series on dvd and they were just as disturbing as I remembered first time around. These were all special editions and fully uncensored (category 3) and to be honest I wouldn’t recommend anybody except the most hard-core of gore hounds to watch them. So it’s odd that Japanese movies are allowed to be as grotesque as possible but violent video games are a no go..strange.Normally I’d urge people to not buy the game if they want to protest against censorship… but uh… the people already seem to be ahead of the curve on that one lol.We love love looove our gore murder and violence here in the west.Removed – flaming/arguingMan they sure love to censor their games out there.Removed – trolling/baitingRemoved – inappropriate@LikelySatan Any modern examples you can pull from that are readily available?@EchoRange there’s something really interesting going on with this though, as tiresome as it all is. With cancel culture being argued about back and forth for so long, there must be a term for when you’ve grasped for a morally acceptable argument until you are basically arguing in your opponent’s favor. Like the folks who are pissed about Yasuke because black. They have to say it’s about anything else, so they’ll become armchair experts on battle flags and tori gates etc etc. They’ll scour every image of the game they hate, until they find something inaccurate. They’ll say the game is insulting to Japanese culture because of historical inaccuracies. And these same buffoons lose their minds at the mention of Sweet Baby. Whose entire purpose is to screen for things like that.
My…brain…(head asplode)Removed – trolling/baiting@LikelySatan It’d be more amusing if it wasn’t disingenuous.It’s just funny to me how people come in and throw a fit when Japan censors gore, standing on some moral high ground as if their own country doesn’t censor. It’s almost like sensibilities change with time…things like…say…some revealing outfits on women? “Yeah…but that’s pervert stuff, that’s different ya incel!” You can’t protest on thing while embracing the other. For the record I think censorship is bad ALL the time, not only when it’s convenient for me.Crazy considering some of the titles that are rated 14+ or 16+ on Crunchyroll and how much violence is within said titles and they censor gore on this game?Most normal AC Shadows comment sectionRemoved – trolling/baiting@LikelySatan Yes the topic of censorship is pretty important to me so probably the wrong guy to crack a joke with.Removed – trolling/baitingAt least it’s being released at all. Games like The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space remake didn’t get released here because of their dismemberment and gore.Oh wow, I only left for a few hours what happened?Removed – flaming/arguingRemoved – flaming/arguing@Kingy it Japan they censor games they did the same to bg3 and dead space why is so shocking to all that Japan censored their gamesAh a CERO Z and not a ‘please tone it down’ response. Fair. But then again past AC games have also had this as well so not surprised.Do they have uncensored versions anymore? Or do they not do that anymore, just CERO Z and go yep that’s the cut off now? Varies per game or rules I guess.They always were particular on violence. Anyone that knows their ratings/cultural signs of things would know. They tone down ecchi/fan service as well, its just to a different level.Their paintings of the past, to the west, to whatever else. Do research on history and whatever people think culturally these days from the region, not what everyone else things from other countries and go ‘but but morals with our western mentality’.@Slayer25c yeah this take us especially hilarious when they also censor the sexiness in THEIR OWN games.It’s worth keeping in mind that CERO isn’t just strict on violence. You won’t see any female nipples or illicit drug use in Japanese releases of console games.The gore in this game is of putting, assassin creed isn’t a gore filled game series, its mostly stealth kill, this is more like gore porn. He can even kill innocent woman by stabbing her up while she’s screaming, and the animus didn’t unsynchron him 😕@Lup They basically the same person just different sex though, and have the same storyline if I remember correctly. And I think the male one is the default, I remember getting shocked when I pick the female one and in the first scene she’s getting punched because she didn’t pay her debt lol.It’s a shame they Didn’t get rid of the animus hub Show CommentsLeave A CommentHold on there, you need to login to post a comment…Horizon MMO May Have Survived NCSOFT’s Cull After AllNot dead yetNew PS5 Firmware Update Is Coming Today in Phased ReleaseWhat does version 25.01-10.60.00 do?Here’s How to Get a Physical Copy of Ninja Gaiden 2’s Remake for PS5You know you want itPS Plus Loses These 8 PS5, PS4 Games Next MonthIt’s an RPG exodusPreview: Assassin’s Creed Shadows Is the Golden Ticket Ubisoft NeedsOur four hours spent in Feudal JapanGame ProfileTitle:Assassin’s Creed ShadowsSystem:PlayStation 5Also Available For:Xbox Series X|SPublisher:UbisoftDeveloper:UbisoftGenre:Action, Adventure, RPGPlayers:1Release Date:PlayStation 5Series:Assassin’s CreedOfficial Site:ubisoft.comWhere to buy:Pre Order on Amazon
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