Hellish horror game Agony will be slightly toned down, 'uncensored' patch plan dropped

Agony, based on what we've seen of it so far, isn't so much a horror game as we've come to know them—dark corridors and jump scares—as it is straight-up horrific. Everything seems wet and sticky (and not in a good way), there are naked naughty bits all over the place (also not in a good way), and in case you missed it earlier this month, babies get eaten. Lovely stuff.

It's the sort of in-your-face visual content that sets a regulatory agent's teeth on edge, and sure enough, developer Madmind Studio said today that it has had to tone things down in order to get a rating from PEGI (Pan European Game Information) and other agencies—but only very slightly, as it turns out.

"The censorship now affects only several seconds from two endings (out of seven) and some scenes that may be unlocked only after the end of the game," Madmind wrote. "None of the scenes you have seen in the trailers and other promotional materials have been censored at all, and the game will feature those on all platforms."

The studio even posted a helpful list of features you can look forward to in the game:

Gore
Brutal Sex Scenes
Lesbian and Gay Sex Scenes
Genital Physics
Eye Gouging
Heart Plucking
Children Heads Exploding
Setting Fire to Martyrs and Demons
Intense Violence
Strong Language
Drugs

Those are definitely not the kinds of back-of-the-box bullet points you see every day.

Because of unspecified "legal issues," however, Madmind has dropped its plan to release a patch that would remove the censorship from the PC version of the game. Instead, it will publish a "comparison video" on May 30, "so you will not miss out [on] anything," a statement that, intentional or not, really highlights where much of the interest in Agony really lies.

"Please bear in mind that leaving this content uncensored would result in the game being banned and us, Madmind Studio, being sued," the message says. "That would simply lead to the studio being closed. Obviously, we don’t want this to happen and we hope that you understand it."

Agony is set to come out on May 29.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.