Japanese publisher Spike Chunsoft announced the first official English translation of the visual novel Chaos; Chief Noah It won’t be coming to Steam as planned “due to changes to the game’s content for which Steam requires guidance.” But while the game is too risky for Steam, the family-friendly folks at Nintendo have no problem with it. In the Switch version Spike Chunsoft said it will still launch in the US on October 7th as planned.
“Spike Chunsoft, Inc. believes in these [Steam guideline-required] “The changes will not allow the game to be released to its standards,” the publisher said in its announcement. “The company is working to deliver the title through alternate storefronts and will make another official announcement once the details are decided. Until then, your patience and understanding is appreciated.”
Chaos; Chief Noah It was originally listed for a Steam presale in April, but the page was removed in August, According to the tracking site SteamDB. That’s when it happened some concerns About the final fate of the Steam version, which Spike Chunsoft finally confirmed today.
Valve’s apparent push for content restrictions comes despite an extremely similar thematic sequel Chaos; Child you have been Available in English on Steam as of 2019 (After its initial release in Japan in 2014 on Xbox One). English PS4 version Chaos; Child It received an M for Mature rating from the ESRB game scenes are described alongside sexual content such as strangulation, torture and “open brains”, “two female characters moaning from the screen while discussing each other’s breasts”.
How bad is it?
Chaos; Chief Noah is an improved port Chaos; Headgame starter the cult-classic Science Adventure series of visual novels (also incl Steins Gate and its continuation). The game follows a series of murders and suicides in the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo, and allows players to change the course of the story by falling for various positive or negative “beasts”. There may be some of these deceptions reported be extremely gory and/or suggest (but not directly show) imminent sexual violence.
“I don’t think it’s going to be any worse than anything in the Steam library,” said PQube Games Head of Localization Andrew Hodgson (who worked on the English translation Steins Gate) told Ars Technica about the game’s “upsetting and violent content”. “Although it can be quite gruesome in certain scenes, it is far from adult.”
Original Chaos; Head It was released for Japanese PCs before the 2008 upgrade Noah It hit the Xbox 360 in 2009. This console port (and later Vita re-release) was accepted ZERO Z content ratings In Japan, it “assumes that the game is not sold or distributed to those under 18 years of age” and in the US, the ESRB roughly equates to an “AO for Adults Only” rating. CERO’s “content icon” system for that game only included a warning about “crime” and not violence or sexual content.
Next Japanese ports Chaos; Chief Noah It was for PS3, PSP, Android and iOS heavily edited removing some of the more extreme images and depictions of violence. In turn, these ports received a lower ZERO D rating (roughly equivalent to the ESRB’s “M for Mature”) rating in Japan. A source in the visual novel translation community (who asked to remain anonymous) confirmed that both the Switch and proposed Steam English versions of the game are based on this edited script.
A japanese Chaos; Head Port for Nintendo Switch, released earlier this year, received a higher ZERO Z rating (and a “criminal” content symbol) despite using an edited version of a game that previously received a ZERO D rating. There will be an English translation launch on Switch in the US next monthRated “M for Mature” and “Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Language, [and] Intense Violence.”
