Dying Light: The Beast has been censored in Japan to comply with CERO, Japan’s ratings board (nice spot, Automaton).
The next instalment in Techland’s zombie-filled horror series will launch in Japan with less gore and no nudity. Not only has CERO assigned Dying Light: The Beast a CERO-Z rating, the top classification, but the game has received the highest possible subclassification within this rating.
More (Less) Brutal
The depiction of internal organs has been removed, the models of infected females have been modified, depictions of dismemberment and nudity have also been completely removed.
Automaton notes that the Steam version of Dying Light: The Beast will also launch with these changes in Japan, despite PC games generally not requiring a CERO rating to release in the region.
CERO is notoriously stringent about mature content, and Dying Light: The Beast is far from the first game to be toned down for a Japanese release.
For instance, the Japanese version of Baldur’s Gate 3 censors the genitalia of its cast with fig leaves, and removes some of the game’s violent scenes, particularly ones involving torture. Sex scenes are also changed to simple fade-to-black moments, much to the dismay of players in the region.
This culture of pornographic censorship is deep-rooted in Japan, dating back to a post-World War 2 ban on all explicit material that was only softened in the 1990s.
Dying Light: The Beast is off to a strong start on Steam, attracting a peak concurrent player count of almost 100,000 at the time of publication. The game has also proved a hit with critics, holding an average critic score of 82 on OpenCritic.
Our own George Foster reviewed Dying Light: The Beast, saying “Dying Light: The Beast might repeat some mistakes of the previous game, but it also brings back everything that worked and focuses on them while delivering a more interesting story set in the series’ most unique location yet” in his 4/5 review.
Dying Light: The Beast is currently available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Dying Light: The Beast
Released
September 19, 2025
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Use of Drugs
Multiplayer
Online Co-Op
AloJapan.com