Nighthawks, the long-in-development vampire RPG due to be released later this month, is the latest game to run afoul of Steam's increasingly stringent rules regarding adult content. According to publisher Wadjet Eye Games, the game has been labelled 'Adults Only'—causing it to be removed from Steam search and outright delisted in certain countries like Germany—despite claims from both developer and publisher that the RPG's depictions of sex and nudity are very mild.

"We are aware that Steam has classified Nighthawks as an adult game and has excluded it from searches," Wadjet Eye boss Dave Gilbert wrote on Bluesky. "We are working on it. Valve is under the impression that this game is way sexier than it actually is." Gilbert further commented that "Valve is basically treating Nighthawks like a porn game!" in responding to a reply to his initial post.

A game being labelled Adults Only can affect its visibility in several ways. Adults Only games will not appear in Steam searches by default, requiring users to log in, verify their age (which requires the use of a credit card in some countries) and adjust their preferred content settings before they become visible. In addition, the label can cause games to be delisted outright in certain countries.

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[–] 182 points 1 month ago (11 children)

Become an undead predator who stalks and murders human beings without conscience... But god forbid you see a tiddy.

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  • [–] [S] 110 points 1 month ago (10 children)

    There's not even any tiddies! They're all (according to the dev) covered by scenery. But you can have sex with a bear in BG3 and that's not adult content

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  • [–] 60 points 1 month ago* (6 children)

    The sex with Halsen as a bear is like the only scene you don't actually see, it is merely implied. But the other sex scenes are just a slight change to camera angle away from full on visible penetration.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    Except Minthara. There's a solid LXIX scene with her, and while not exactly porn, it would definitely make a teenager watching skinemax in the eighties very happy.

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  • [–] 18 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago

    10's: I remember (M14) going to a friends place to play GTA SA. He was the lucky few who had a dad that didn't care about it's 17+ rating. We all know the first thing we did after jacking a car.

    Back then the game was still available to purchase from most game shops. Leisure Suit Larry wasn't tho.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 month ago*

    Yea but BG3 was highly marketed and anticipated, whereas this will be the first time many are hearing of Nighthawks.

    Valve should treat all games equally. So this is just favoritism bullshit.

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  • [–] 161 points 1 month ago (7 children)

    Guys I'm really, really, really tired of purity culture

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  • [–] 64 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    It's the puritans forcing companies to cover the legal asses that's the issue. Those people refuse to take responsibility for themselves & their kids, instead forcing the rest of the world to act as their personal morality police so they don't have to.

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  • [–] 30 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    I don't think it was ever about the kids. Grown adults are freaking the fuck out on the regular about media and always have been =/

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  • [–] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Especially when butt stuff's "allowed". I mean, c'mon. I'm not one to kink shame, yet... just own it.

    Besides, if your invisible friend is duped by the ol' trench run? Maybe lose that dead weight. 🤘🏼🤗

    he said, to no one in particular

    Baphomet has always loved you, btw.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Why are porn games banned in Germany? What a stupid place.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago

    IIRC they were very slow to label video games "art," with the various protections that brings. That's why Turok 64 had a buck-wild German port where all the humans are robots. Also why games with Nazis were either banned or massively censored until some time this century. Wolfenstein 3D was officially unavailable for ages, and as late as The New Colossus, they replaced a lot of blatant symbols and names with wink-wink alternatives.

    Come to think of it, that affected games as late as The Orange Box collection. German TF2 has no blood, and dead players explode into junk props instead of ragdolling or gibbing. I don't remember if Left 4 Dead was similarly censored to hell because I don't remember whether they consider zombies people.

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  • [+] -9 points 1 month ago

    They're not. The seller just has to verify customer age, same as when e.g. buying alcohol in the supermarket or entering a gambling hall.

    Valve has simply been refusing to do so, even though eID makes privacy-preserving age verification trivial, frankly.

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  • [–] 31 points 1 month ago (12 children)

    FYI to anyone interested in games with sexual content: You can change the default settings so these games do still appear when searching.

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  • [–] [S] 29 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    The problem with this is that in the UK and now Australia, to view 'Adult' games you need to verify your age with a credit card. Something that isn't common to have in either country. And in Germany the game is completely delisted.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Wait, so how both country pay for the game?

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    They're presumably not sending cash, so what's the payment method? Direct bank transfer?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Yep I can see them in search but I'm an Australian with no credit card, that's all I can see.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    And unfortunately this doesn't help buy shit that is banned in your region.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Luckily GOG isn't affected at this stage.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Because it's too small so nobody cares about it. If it ever approaches the type of market penetration Steam has, they'll be getting the same pressures from the puritans too.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    As soon as I saw the screenshot I started getting really excited, and lo and behold after checking the page it is by Richard Cobbett who did Sunless Seas/Skies!! Definitely getting it on release

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Im in australia, so it probs will be banned here anyway

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  • [–] 35 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Don't you love it when a game distribution company controls such a large market share that they can make or break any developer/publisher. Simply for breaching some vague "morality" policy pushed by a bunch of puritans.

    God, I love capitalism. /s

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  • [–] 43 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    And that monopoly itself is subordinate to the supermonopoly of payment processors which are basically their own geopolitical superpower now.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 month ago

    This is really unfortunate.

    I dont think Wadjet has ever published a bad game, although I think this is the first non-point and click adventure they're involved with.

    I'm really curious to see how this game turns out, and this kind of complication means that it being a success is much less likely, even if it deserves it.

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  • I feel like there's an opportunity here to make it more sexy to get all the horny sales.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Has anyone considered the Edward Hopper estate having something to do with this?

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  • At least in Germany you have to classify your game. You don't have to get it checked by an organisation (USK) for online publishing like steam (but you could if you wanted) but you have to at least fill out a questionnaire.

    If you publish without anything, you will get your ass whooped properly.

    Sounds to me as if they did nothing.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Well, we've got one side of the story. If the dev gives us what they gave Valve, then maybe we can see who is right.

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