Capcom has confirmed that the Japanese version of Resident Evil Village will be censored to some degree in Japan to conform to the regulations set by CERO, the country’s video game rating organization. The developer acknowledged the differences in a Q&A post on its official site, which noted that the CERO D (ages 17 and up) and CERO Z (ages 18 and up) rated versions of Resident Evil Village would lack decapitations and feature less gore than their international counterparts.
“There is no head defect expression in the Japanese version,” a machine translation reads. “The Japanese domestic version has less bleeding expression than the overseas version.”
“The Japanese version cannot include expressions that conflict with the prohibited expressions set by CERO, even if it is in the Z category. The expressions included in the overseas version have been changed because some of them fall under the prohibited expressions of CERO.”
“In addition, Resident Evil Village (CERO D version) is more suppressed in violence than Resident Evil Village Z Version (CERO Z version).”
Gaming outlet Hey Poor Player, which was the first to spot the update on Capcom’s site, noted in its coverage that this level of video game censorship isn’t unusual for Japan. A recent example would be the sex scene between Abby and Owen in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II, which had to be removed entirely due to CERO’s rules regarding explicit content.
“Set a few years after the horrifying events in the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 7 biohazard, the all-new storyline begins with Ethan Winters and his wife Mia living peacefully in a new location, free from their past nightmares,” Capcom’s description for Resident Evil Village reads. “Just as they are building their new life together, tragedy befalls them once again.”
Resident Evil Village will be coming to Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, as well as PlayStation 4 with a free digital upgrade to PS5 in North America and Xbox One with Smart Delivery on May 7, 2021.