The cut of Dying Light 2 dominates the discussion about the game in many places. A fan has now directly inquired with the USK how the decision came about and received a surprisingly detailed response.
What is the problem with the cut?
- Even before release, it became known, that Dying Light 2 would be released cut in Germany. The violence against humans is lower here compared to the international version.
- This has caused discontent among fans who do not want to be censored as adults. With over 4,000 votes, 88% of respondents on MeinMMO said, that they would play uncut anyway and would import from Austria or Switzerland.
- However, one fan did not let it rest and directly inquired with the USK about what the cut was about.
This is what the USK says: In the extremely detailed response, two employees of the USK (“Entertainment Software Self-Regulation”) explain how the different classifications of games come about.
In the first, uncut version that was examined, Dying Light 2 would accordingly have to be placed on the index – and would thus only have been sold on request. The response states:
Specifically, the USK examination committee found that the game contains purposefully depicted violent actions such as murder and slaughter scenes. These are directed not only against zombies but also against human-shaped game characters. Even peaceful groups of survivors, who are completely uninvolved in the combat events outside the story framework, can be attacked and deliberately mutilated – without this being accompanied by gameplay-relevant sanctions.
The indexing would not have been initiated by the USK but by the Federal Center for Child and Youth Media Protection (“BzKJ”), as was the case with the predecessor Dying Light. Only through the cut was a release “from 18” made possible.
We even inquired with the USK whether everything is correct and how it will continue with Dying Light 2. A response is still pending. By the way, we tested the cut version for you:
Dying Light 2 is uncut on Steam but cut on Xbox and PlayStation
It is now known, that the PC version of Dying Light 2 has not fallen victim to the cut. All depictions of violence and violence against neutral NPCs are possible on Steam and other PC platforms.
Only the versions from the Microsoft Store and the PS Store are still cut. A reddit user suspects that this is because the two providers do not allow unchecked games in their shops.
Dying Light 2 is not USK-tested in uncensored form, although not indexed. However, this is already enough not to be offered on Xbox and PlayStation.
It is also possible that Dying Light 2 will end up on the index and that at least the uncut version will completely disappear from digital shops, fans fear. Then the game would only be available on request in stores that often simply do not have indexed titles in their inventory.
Most publishers try to avoid indexing. Since the games then become more difficult to obtain, this often goes hand in hand with losses in profits. Because not everyone takes the trouble to specifically ask for a game in the store or to import it.
At least Dying Light 2 is spared this fate for now, and the success is there. Over 270,000 players played simultaneously on Steam alone, and the first DLC is already there:
What do you think about the cut of Dying Light 2? Do you find the response of the USK satisfactory?
