The Korean MMORPG Bless does not hold back in Asia with half-naked beings that you can use as pets or even mounts. However, it seems that developer Neowiz will dress the pets a bit more in the Western version.
Half-naked pets? What is going on? Bless offers – like many Asian MMORPGs – quite revealing appearances for female beings. This not only includes sexy outfits for heroines. There are also some creatures that seem to have a rather low sense of modesty.
These include, for example, harpies, fairies, and a monstrous spider creature that is part arthropod, part woman. All these beings are not just enemies; you can also capture them and “train” them to be pets or even mounts. Then a half-naked harpy follows you, or you ride on a spider lady with (almost) bare breasts.
But perhaps not if you play the Western version of Bless.
Is the ESBR rating standing in the way of naked pets?
So far, it is not known how the revealing pets and mounts will look in the Western version of Bless. But the chances for a more modest appearance are quite good. Bless has an ESBR rating of T (Teen) in the West.
ESBR stands for “Entertainment Software Rating Board,” a kind of voluntary labeling for content in games. The T rating (approximately from age 13) covers blood and violence but not sexual and erotic content. For that, the next higher M rating would probably be necessary. However, games with lower age ratings often sell better in America.
Clarity about naked pets by the early access release
If the revealing pets and mounts are classified as sexual content, they would likely not be allowed in the game according to the T rating. Bless would not be the first game from Korea to appear more modestly in the West.
Even NCSoft’s MMORPG Blade & Soul did without naked women in cutscenes and in the side-scroller Hype Universe, the breasts of the heroines were noticeably reduced in the West.
However, it might turn out differently, and the pets may be as open as in Asia here as well. We will only know more when Bless is released in early access on Steam on May 30, 2018.
