Indie psychological horror game Vile: Exhumed, banned from Steam along with a swath of other games resulting from a new policy targeting games with “certain kinds of adults only content,” is now available as a free download from solo developer Cara Cadaver and publisher DreadXP, with 50% of all donations going to charity.
Vile: Exhumed is a game that “tasks you with unraveling a story about the horrors of parasociality, entitlement, and misogyny in the digital age by digging through hidden files on an obsolete computer,” and “uses a combination of FMV and practical effects to create images as horrifying as the themes,” according to Cadaver and DreadXP. Cadaver also notes that while the game uses lots of intense visuals, “there is no uncensored nudity, no depictions of sex acts, and no pornography whatsoever.”
In keeping with this personal and sensitive exploration of these topics, both Cadaver and DreadXP are donating some proceeds to charity. DreadXP will be donating all of its portion of the profits, Cadaver says, while she will be donating a portion of hers, which totals 50% of the profits. The proceeds will go toward a Toronto-based charity called Red Door Family Shelter, “which focuses on helping families, refugees, and women who are escaping violence.”
These bans began mid-July, when Steam updated its policies with a new condition that “Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers.” In particular, “certain kinds of adult-only content” would not be published on the service. Indie game storefront Itch.io followed suit days later, albeit with a more extensive and transparent statement than what Steam offered. Since then, developers and publishers have been exploring ways to push back against this censorship, with storefront GOG.com offering up a NSFW game giveaway intended to “raise awareness of censorship in gaming.”
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