The ESRB has rated the return of Darksiders.
As expected, the title will ship (in America), with an “M” rating thanks to blood and gore, suggestive themes and plenty of violence. The full rating, found below, details everything from exposed cleavage to “bone-crunching” effects:
This is an action role-playing game in which players assume the role of Death (one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) on a quest to resurrect the lost souls of humanity and free his brother (War) from an eternal prison. As players traverse through fantastical open-world environments, they use oversized blades to kill demonic/angelic creatures (e.g., dragons, golems, ice skeletons, “corrupted angels”). The melee-style combat is accompanied by screaming/flesh-rending sounds, bone-crunching effects, and exaggerated splashes of blood. Players can also initiate “cinematic kills” that depict additional violence: enemies getting impaled, decapitated, or dismembered (often amid slow-motion effects)—similar imagery can be seen during cutscenes. Some female characters (e.g., harpy-like creatures; a demon) are depicted with large amounts of exposed cleavage.
Darksiders II releases next month for PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3, with Wii U fans having to wait until later this year.
