The Evil Within will be censored in Japan, gore available through DLC

Shinji Mikami’s return to horror will be a touch less horrific for its Japanese release, it seems. The Evil Within will be censored in Japan in order to dodge its otherwise CERO Z (18+) rating and to “reach out to as many customers possible.”

“If we were to make it the same way as the foreign version, It’d be rated CERO Z and we felt that it’d be best to release it the way the creators make it,” ZeniMax Asia general manager Tetsu Takahashi told Siliconera. “However, that would limit the sales and advertising, so we’d lose the opportunity to reach out to as many customers possible.”

Avid horror fans will be able to bring the now-CERO D game back to its gory glory by way of “Gore Mode DLC,” an add-on which takes advantage of a now-defunct rule prohibiting CERO Z DLC for CERO D games—surprisingly, the first time the exploit has been employed.

“Speaking with Mikami [Shinji] about how having The Evil Within be rated CERO D won’t have an effect on the game itself, it has become possible to make it that way. Again, this new game is also getting a vast amount of pre-orders, so that also strengthened our resolve,” Takashi added.

[via Destructoid]