No Fanservice for the United Kingdom
Omega Labyrinth Z is reportedly banned in the United Kingdom. The dungeon crawler is making its way to the West sometime this year for the PlayStation 4 and Vita.
Along with Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and Irelend, the United Kingdom has refused to give the game a rating, which essentially bans it from being sold in stores.
The Video Standards Council (VSC) explained the rating in a statement posted on their website.
“The VSC Rating Board believes this content in a game, which would have strong appeal to non-adult players, is an issue which would be unacceptable to the majority of UK consumers and, more importantly, has the potential to be significantly harmful in terms of the social and moral development of younger people in particular.”
Prior to this, the last game to be refused a rating in the United Kingdom was Manhunt 2, a psychological horror stealth game notorious for its violence. An edited version was eventually released, but even it was initially rejected.
Omega Labyrinth Z is a dungeon crawler RPG based around dungeon exploration and turn-based combat. However, its focus on fanservice, such as collecting underwear and rubbing women’s bodies using touch controls, is what pushes it into the “adult” realm. One of the goals of the protagonist Aina Akemiya is to increase her breast size.
These kinds of games aren’t new. Back in 2016, Gal*Gun: Double Peace was banned in Germany. And although it was released in the United Kingdom, it was rated PEGI 16, which states that “sexual activity can be shown but it must not include visible genitals.”
According to the VSC, the difference between this game and Omega Labyrinth Z is “normalised sexual behaviour towards children.”
“In one mini game, the player is given the objective to sexually arouse a sleeping small child holding a teddy bear, whilst she verbally rejects,” they told Kotaku. “Ultimately, we felt there is a serious danger that impressionable people, i.e. children and young people viewing the game would conclude that the sexual activity represented normal sexual behaviour.”