What is The Blood of Dawnwalker's age rating, and what is in it?
Rated M (17+) by the ESRB, 18 by PEGI and 18 by Germany's USK, and lower in some countries. Here is what each board lists, and how the ratings compare.
ESRB (US, Canada)
M · Mature 17+
Steam gates the store page at 17.
PEGI (Europe)
18
The highest PEGI tier.
USK (Germany)
18
Belastende Themen, Drastische Gewalt.
What the ESRB says is in it
The ESRB’s rating lists five content descriptors, the same five on Steam and on the Xbox listing. Steam’s own summary, written for the store page, reads “Some Nudity or Sexual Content, Frequent Violence or Gore, General Mature Content”.
- Intense Violence
- Blood and Gore
- Strong Sexual Content
- Nudity
- Strong Language
The game has three romanceable characters, and at least one guide describes a love scene as the outcome of that line: Fextralife's Lacra page says choosing to kiss her prompts the sex scene. The romances are optional choices inside the story; what each one requires is on the romance page, and Crake, Anca and Lacra each have a page of their own.
How the boards compare
The boards do not describe the game the same way. PEGI, which gives it 18, lists only violence and bad language, while the ESRB adds the sexual content and nudity; Japan’s CERO lists violence alone. Australia is the lowest of the ratings below at MA 15+, and lists strong themes and violence.
| Board | Rating | Content it lists |
|---|---|---|
| ESRB — United States, Canada | M (17+) | Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Sexual Content, Nudity, Strong Language |
| PEGI — Europe | 18 | Violence, Bad Language |
| USK — Germany | 18 | Belastende Themen, Drastische Gewalt (distressing themes, drastic violence) |
| Australian Classification | MA 15+ | Strong themes, Violence |
| New Zealand | R16 | Violence, Cruelty, Offensive language, Sex scenes |
| CERO — Japan | Z (18+) | Violence |
| GRAC — South Korea | 19 | Violence, sexual content, fear, language, crime |
| Brazil (DEJUS) | 18 | Extreme violence, nudity, sexual content, gambling or games of chance |
| Singapore (MDA) | M18 | Violence, Sexual Scenes |
Is there a demo to try first?
Steam lists no demo for the game. The demos in earlier coverage were hands-on press builds, such as the one IGN's preview describes. What the game is like before you buy is best judged from how long it takes, how the difficulty presets play, and how its 30-day clock works.
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