Silent Hill f officially banned in Australia by ratings authority

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Silent Hill f is banned in Australia ahead of its global release, which has an unnamed date. The upcoming title developed by NeoBards and published by Konami only recently received a haunting trailer, which can be viewed below.

Australian authorities at the Australian Classification Board (ACB), which is similar to America's Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), have classified the upcoming Silent Hill f as "RC," or "Refused Classification," meaning the game is now banned for sale within Australia. The ACB doesn't specifically state what content within the title violated its rating criteria, but according to the ACB's website, any media that receives an RC classification contains material that is "outside generally-accepted community standards and exceeds what can be included in the R 18+ and X 18+ ratings."

So, what has caused Australian authorities to ban Konami's upcoming title? The summary for Silent Hill f on the ACB website describes aspects of Silent Hill f as containing depictions of "players' character getting impaled in the neck and/or getting their faces ripped apart," a "character burned alive inside a cage", "a woman branded by a hot iron; entrails and sinew displayed on serving platters in fantastical celebration/ceremony; a character sawing off her own arm; a character slicing off portions of a character's face during a ritual."

• Update: Silent Hill f's official ban in Australia lifted by ratings authority

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Silent Hill f Steam listing disclaimers

If I were to bet on what pushed Silent Hill f beyond classification, I'd bet it was "a character slicing off portions of a character's face during a ritual." However, this is just my personal conjecture.

This isn't the first time the ACB has banned the release of a game in Australia, as the release of Grand Theft Auto IV was initially on the ACB's ban list for its depictions of violent acts and drug use. Rockstar responded to the ban by editing the game to comply with Australia's classification laws, and a modified version (Australian copy of GTA IV) was released in 2008 to meet the MA15+ rating.

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However, in 2013, Australia introduced the R18+ rating for games, which enabled the uncut version of GTA IV to become legally available in the country. However, the modified version remained the one officially sold on consoles throughout the country.

It's possible that Konami will have to modify the contents of Silent Hill f to have it pass the ACB rating board, as the title currently exceeds an R18+ classification. However, editing the contents of Silent Hill f may not be as simple as the situation with GTA IV as the content that violates the guidelines may be within cutscenes that are integral to the story.

I have reached out to Konami to see how they are going to proceed with the ban and to the ACB rating board for an explanation as to what caused the ban.