Hotline Miami 2 banned in Australia due to rape scene

Hotline Miami was a 2012 brutally violent action game with twisted stories and bloody gameplay, all presented with a top-down pixelated graphical style. And of course, given its scenes, actions and language, it received appropriate ratings of mature or adults only. It was also reviewed to great reviews and response from critics and players alike.

Now, its highly-anticipated sequel, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, is around the corner, and developers Dennaton Games might have gone an extra step as far as the depiction of violation goes - at least according to some.

The Australian Classification Board refused to rate the game, meaning it won't be sold in the Australian market. Apparently, an implied rape scene, along with other harsh situations, have been considered too "offensive" for even adult Australian players. PlayerAttack got a full description of this precise scene from the Australian Board in which, apparently, it's the player character who kills several characters before applying sexualised violence to a female one, a type of scene completely forbidden by the Australian Classification Guidelines, even for +18 content.

Devolver Digital, publisher of the game have responded to the ban:

"We are aware of the recent report published by the Australian Classification Board in regards to Hotline Miami 2 and have been in communication with them. As such, we and Dennaton Games would like to clarify a few things:

First, to clear up any possible misconceptions, the opening cinematic that was first shown in June of 2013 has not changed in any way. We also want to make clear that players are given an choice at the start of the game as to whether they wish to avoid content that alludes to sexual violence. The sequence in question is presented below in context, both after choosing the uncut version of the game and after choosing to avoid content that alludes to sexual violence.

Second, in response to the report itself, we are concerned and disappointed that a board of professionals tasked with evaluating and judging games fairly and honestly would stretch the facts to such a degree and issue a report that describes specific thrusting actions that are not simply present in the sequence in question and incorrectly portrays what was presented to them for review.

Though we have no plans to officially challenge the ruling, we stand by our developers, their creative vision for the storyline, its characters and the game and look forward to delivering Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number to fans very soon."

What do you think of this type of censorship? Should videogame artists and developers be able to depict same kind of interactive scenes as those ones seen on films, TV and other media? How should classification systems work in this regard? Leave your comment below.