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Nighthawks, the long-in-development vampire RPG due to be released later this month, is the latest game to run afoul of Steam's increasingly stringent rules regarding adult content. According to publisher Wadjet Eye Games, the game has been labelled 'Adults Only'—causing it to be removed from Steam search and outright delisted in certain countries like Germany—despite claims from both developer and publisher that the RPG's depictions of sex and nudity are very mild.

"We are aware that Steam has classified Nighthawks as an adult game and has excluded it from searches," Wadjet Eye boss Dave Gilbert wrote on Bluesky. "We are working on it. Valve is under the impression that this game is way sexier than it actually is." Gilbert further commented that "Valve is basically treating Nighthawks like a porn game!" in responding to a reply to his initial post.

A game being labelled Adults Only can affect its visibility in several ways. Adults Only games will not appear in Steam searches by default, requiring users to log in, verify their age (which requires the use of a credit card in some countries) and adjust their preferred content settings before they become visible. In addition, the label can cause games to be delisted outright in certain countries.

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[-] Widdershins@lemmy.world 1 points 15 minutes ago

Has anyone considered the Edward Hopper estate having something to do with this?

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 day ago

Why are porn games banned in Germany? What a stupid place.

[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 6 points 17 hours ago

IIRC they were very slow to label video games "art," with the various protections that brings. That's why Turok 64 had a buck-wild German port where all the humans are robots. Also why games with Nazis were either banned or massively censored until some time this century. Wolfenstein 3D was officially unavailable for ages, and as late as The New Colossus, they replaced a lot of blatant symbols and names with wink-wink alternatives.

Come to think of it, that affected games as late as The Orange Box collection. German TF2 has no blood, and dead players explode into junk props instead of ragdolling or gibbing. I don't remember if Left 4 Dead was similarly censored to hell because I don't remember whether they consider zombies people.

[-] Ummdustry@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago

probably lobbied against by Grossen Kinkenspielezeug, they've got a lot of influence in germany

[-] dukatos@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

Fun fact: prostitution is legal in Germany.

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[-] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 23 points 1 day ago

Don't you love it when a game distribution company controls such a large market share that they can make or break any developer/publisher. Simply for breaching some vague "morality" policy pushed by a bunch of puritans.

God, I love capitalism. /s

[-] iocase@lemmy.zip 28 points 1 day ago

And that monopoly itself is subordinate to the supermonopoly of payment processors which are basically their own geopolitical superpower now.

[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 6 points 17 hours ago

The sort of thing digital-only currencies were supposed to fix, until that became a wiggly line for cocaine enthusiasts to bet on.

Like everything else now.

[-] SarahValentine@pawb.social 173 points 1 day ago

Become an undead predator who stalks and murders human beings without conscience... But god forbid you see a tiddy.

[-] flamingos@feddit.uk 104 points 1 day ago

There's not even any tiddies! They're all (according to the dev) covered by scenery. But you can have sex with a bear in BG3 and that's not adult content

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 55 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The sex with Halsen as a bear is like the only scene you don't actually see, it is merely implied. But the other sex scenes are just a slight change to camera angle away from full on visible penetration.

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 day ago

Except Minthara. There's a solid LXIX scene with her, and while not exactly porn, it would definitely make a teenager watching skinemax in the eighties very happy.

[-] Kyrias@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 day ago

It's a number in Roman numerals that's nice.

[-] Kyrias@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago
[-] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

It also pronounces a bit like "LICKS", which is a very nice coincidence.

[-] DegradationDenial@feddit.nl 8 points 1 day ago

10's: I remember (M14) going to a friends place to play GTA SA. He was the lucky few who had a dad that didn't care about it's 17+ rating. We all know the first thing we did after jacking a car.

Back then the game was still available to purchase from most game shops. Leisure Suit Larry wasn't tho.

[-] warm@kbin.earth 30 points 1 day ago

Yea but BG3 was highly marketed and anticipated, whereas this will be the first time many are hearing of Nighthawks.

Valve should treat all games equally. So this is just favoritism bullshit.

[-] doublah@sopuli.xyz 15 points 1 day ago

Legally, they have to treat them differently, if Steam sells a game like BG3 and some government doesn't like it, they have a PEGI rating to point to.

But if Steam sells a game like this without a rating from an age rating agency and a government doesn't like it or requires ages verification for it, that's on Valve.

[-] deadcream@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 day ago

Valve also collected massively more money from BG3 sales than it would ever get from this game.

[-] SarahValentine@pawb.social 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Well I hope Valve realizes they just gave the devs of this game the best excuse to un-hide them! >:3

[-] EmilieEasie@fedinsfw.app 154 points 1 day ago

Guys I'm really, really, really tired of purity culture

[-] WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today 63 points 1 day ago

It's the puritans forcing companies to cover the legal asses that's the issue. Those people refuse to take responsibility for themselves & their kids, instead forcing the rest of the world to act as their personal morality police so they don't have to.

[-] EmilieEasie@fedinsfw.app 27 points 1 day ago

I don't think it was ever about the kids. Grown adults are freaking the fuck out on the regular about media and always have been =/

[-] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago

It's about control. If it wasn't sex, it would be something else. Eg.: it is already also several other elses.

[-] EmilieEasie@fedinsfw.app 7 points 1 day ago

Dude exactly. There's a ton of self-righteous people that just believe certain things shouldn't exist and if they ban all the sex stuff, they'll move on to the next thing.

[-] TheShamMirrors@lemmy.today 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm pretty sure capitalists just do this when left to their own devices. They claim the market is impartial but markets seem to be really great at manifesting fascism in places

[-] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Especially when butt stuff's "allowed". I mean, c'mon. I'm not one to kink shame, yet... just own it.

Besides, if your invisible friend is duped by the ol' trench run? Maybe lose that dead weight. 🤘🏼🤗

he said, to no one in particular

Baphomet has always loved you, btw.

[-] Don_alForno@feddit.org 49 points 1 day ago

Kids can watch any porn they like for free on the hub, but heavens forbid an adult wants to pay for and jerk off over RPG character tits.

I feel like there's an opportunity here to make it more sexy to get all the horny sales.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 27 points 1 day ago

FYI to anyone interested in games with sexual content: You can change the default settings so these games do still appear when searching.

[-] bunnyBoy@pawb.social 1 points 28 minutes ago

As soon as I saw the screenshot I started getting really excited, and lo and behold after checking the page it is by Richard Cobbett who did Sunless Seas/Skies!! Definitely getting it on release

[-] flamingos@feddit.uk 28 points 1 day ago

The problem with this is that in the UK and now Australia, to view 'Adult' games you need to verify your age with a credit card. Something that isn't common to have in either country. And in Germany the game is completely delisted.

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[-] Godort@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 day ago

This is really unfortunate.

I dont think Wadjet has ever published a bad game, although I think this is the first non-point and click adventure they're involved with.

I'm really curious to see how this game turns out, and this kind of complication means that it being a success is much less likely, even if it deserves it.

[-] OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Im in australia, so it probs will be banned here anyway

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this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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