1. Resident Evil 5
The very first controversial game ever was Resident Evil 5. Set in Africa, Chris Redfield (who’s white) takes to the streets of Kijuju to kill all teh zombies! Buuuuut…. they’re all black. Seriously? In this day and age?
To kill the negative, developers put in some token diversity! Yay! There’s Almor, Chris’ black partner, plus the zombies are now in LIVING COLOUR(tm). Jun Takeuchi really didn’t think it would be so controversial, but he wanted to emphasize that those things weren’t implemented in response to allegations of racism. Sureeeeeee.
2. Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty is a franchise renowned for its beautiful graphics and awesome shootouts, but there’s just one catch to everything. No Russian. In this optional mission, you have to go into Moscow International undercover and play terrorist to gain the confidence of an ultra-nationalist group.
Unsurprisingly, this mission was left out from the Russian release of the game. Yet, Makarov says in the mission not to kill any Russians! (Kinda dumb, considering you’re shooting indiscriminately at MOSCOW International). Of course, that didn’t stop the Japanese release from mistranslating it as “Kill all the Russians”. Oops.
And in other news, Vladimir Putin has just nuked Tokyo…
3. The Mortal Kombat Series
Now you probably know why this series is pretty controversial. Mortal Kombat was one of the first games to display FULL! FRONTAL! VIOLENCE! FATALITY, MOTHERFUCKERS! It’s so bad, the ESRB was formed as a direct response. Now that’s a game worth your time.
4. The GTA Series
Grand Theft Auto is certainly a game for all ages. Hell, even my grandma plays it! (She shouts “Eat that, putzhead”, every time she runs over a hooker. I love my bubbe.) However, this game is actually rated Mature. GameStop don’t really check no ID, doe, so my little sister is also hooked on GTA now. GTA holds the Guinness World Record for Most Controversial Video Game Series for all time. In San Andreas, CJ can even schtup!
But Rockstar don’t give two shits. GTA V continues that long-standing tradition of controversial content, like waterboarding! Fun, right? Uh-oh, I hear Jack Thompson stomping down the hallways of GREAT JUSTICE! That jawn is just straight-up free advertising for Rockstar. Boo-yeah.
5. Night Trap
The next piece de resistance, Night Trap, uses full motion video. With sexual abuse a major part of the plot. Oh yeah. Released in 1992, it’s now infamous for being one of the two games a Democrat Senator showed at a subcommittee hearing to prove things are just damn bad in the gaming industry and that they need a regulator. Prudes.
6. Carmageddon
Carmageddon is a vehicular violence videogame spectacular where you get to mow down pedestrians a la Death Race! Banned in Brazil, Germany, England, that was just fuel for the fire, as the game sold over two million copies.
7. Manhunt
Released in 2003, Manhunt became hella popular, not to mention controversial, after a 17-year-old killed his 14-year-old friend in Leicestershire, England, reportedly because he was inspired the game. Even though the police clearly said it was drug-related. The original author of this article clearly did not the bloody research, the Jack Thompson groupie. Shame on you, dude! Shame.
The negatives notwithstanding, this game sold 1.7 million copies. They even released a sequel! That’s what you call a blockbuster.
8. Hatred
Hatred is a game about genocide, where you murder innocent civilians! Can you feel the heat? Especially after it was discovered that the creator of the game had Neo-Nazi ties. It was briefly on Steam, but Valve thankfully erased it from their servers. And then Gabe Newell put it back. Herp derp. It’s been rated AO though, so only adults can play it. Of course, no one really cares about ESRB ratings.
9. Six Days of Fallujah
Six Days of Fallujah is a first-person shooter about the fighting in Fallujah. This game has been denounced and dragged through the mud far and wide, from military to civilians. This Atomic-developed game was even mentioned by name by several high-ranked U.S. military officers! As a result, Konami cancelled the game effective April 10th, 2017. Alas.
10. Postal
Postal is a top-down shooter developed by Running With Scissors. Gaining a couple sequels with Postal 2 and the botched as Postal 3, as well as a remaster released in 2016, this series is extremely controversial because of its violence-laced content. But come on, don’t tell me you don’t want to unzip your pants and randomly unload your bladder on unsuspecting people!
11. Custer’s Revenge
Custer’s Revenge, also known as Westward HO! is an adult game produced by Mystique for the Atari 2600 where you play General George Custer wielding a pixellated phallus, about to rape a First Nations woman tied to a cactus. Released in 1982, this game was the first-ever rape simulator. Sold with the label “NOT FOR SALE TO MINORS” for $49.95 (you could probably get it on an emulator website nowadays), women’s rights groups quickly got riled up about the issue and Mystique was sued for 11 million dollars. Even so, the game still sold almost 80.000 copies, a definite win for Mystique.
12. Fight of Gods
Fight of Gods is a satirical fighting game where you pit gods and goddesses against each other. Initially, it wasn’t a big deal or anything. In September 2017, however, the game really exploded in popularity after Jesus was added to the game. The Malaysian government protested and banned Steam over the game. The next day, Valve blocked the game from being downloaded in Southeast Asia. Wow, Gabe, you really sold out, didn’t you?
13. Muslim Massacre
Muslim Massacre: The Game of Modern Religious Genocide is a… game. Your mission: to kill all the Muslims on-screen. That’s basically the only objective observation you can make about this. Some people think it’s a critique of US foreign policy towards the Middle East. Some people think it’s racist piece of garbage. Play it, or don’t. Just don’t get a fatwa slapped on your ass, kay?