Saints Row 4 now has a slightly more innocent twin, and it's planning a backpacking trip to Australia after its lewder brother was twice denied entry. Following the Australian Classification Board's decision to give the absurd sequel a "Refused Classification" status - effectively banning it from sale - developer Deep Silver Volition have released a "slightly modified" version, which, according to local distributor AIE Interactive, has been awarded an MA15+ rating.
AIE claim that the Australian version is different to the international release, "only insofar as a single short optional mission has been removed in order to comply with Australian legislation." As suspected , the sticking point for the board was down to "drug use related to incentives and rewards", and so the offending section has been cut.
"[The modified] mission has been the subject of much discussion recently for featuring the use of virtual alien narcotics by the player character, which could potentially improve certain superpowers temporarily within the game," AIE said.
The other suspected trouble spot - an alien rectal probe - will, er... pass smoothly. "The Rectifier Probe weapon, which has also been part of the discussion, is still due to be released as part of the Season Pass DLC package, as has always been intended both for Australia and the rest of the world." Presumably, this makes it part of the already announced Enter the Dominatrix DLC, which has been revealed as a mockumentary style look at the game.
In a statement by publisher Deep Silver, it was revealed that the cut content was a loyalty mission featuring Shaundi - with the player using the alien narcotics to obtain superpowers. “This mission represents approximately 20 minutes of gameplay out of the hours available to purchasers,” they said. “The removal of this mission has no negative impact on the story or the superpowers and will not detract from the enjoyment players will get from their Saints Row 4 experience."
Saints Row 4 is due out August 23rd.
Thanks, VG247 .
