The Last of Us 2 is quite easily one of the most brutal and graphic video games ever made, with realistic visuals lending extra weight to the terrible violence that's depicted in the game consistently from start to finish. The Last of Us 2 takes its violence a step further than most games, having enemies scream out in pain, call each other's names, and more. However, The Last of Us 2's extreme level of violence isn't the reason why the Japanese version of the game is censored.
While The Last of Us 2 is significantly violent, the game also features some sexual content. In fact, there is an explicit scene in the game that shows two characters having sex, and it's this scene that's been censored in the Japanese version of the game.
Please note that this article will have some spoilers for The Last of Us 2.
Click here to see the censored scene.
The censored scene in question happens fairly late in The Last of Us 2. Abby goes to talk to Owen at the aquarium, they argue, and then get into a bit of a fight. The two of them then start kissing and eventually have sex, with most versions of The Last of Us 2 showing nudity and even some of the act itself. However, the Japanese version of The Last of Us 2 cuts away shortly after the kissing starts, fading to black and picking up a bit later in the story.
The reason why The Last of Us 2 was censored in Japan is due to the country's game ratings board, CERO. CERO prohibits video games from depicting explicit sexual content, meaning the Abby and Owen scene was out of bounds.
In future, it's possible that CERO will become more lenient when it comes to this kind of content in video games. As the video game industry has matured, sex scenes in games have become more common, with the argument made that if movies and television can depict sex, then video games should be able to do so as well. There once was a time when stuff like this would result in a game being slapped with an Adults Only rating, but that is no longer the case.
The Last of Us 2 is available now, exclusively for PS4.