Even though Australia is OK with giant dildos and games that let you split bags with literal children, Devolver Digital has managed to add another game to Australia’s refused classification list.
The title is Sludge Life, a seemingly innocuous indie out now on Steam and the Epic Games Store. It’s pitched as a stroll through an open-world, where you wander around vandalising and tagging everything in sight.
Just so we’re clear about what we’re dealing with, here’s the official “feature” list:
- Experience the thrills of vandalism from the safety of your computer.
- Curiosity and free will are your only motivators – roll as you please.
- Find and download apps to your laptop and waste your life away playing a game in a game.
- Smoke Ciggy Cigs brand cigarettes. Smoke ‘em up real good.
- Take photos of exotic fauna and ambivalent NPCs.
- Dedicated fart button.
- A huge baby, community basketball court, and a cat with two buttholes. [no extra charge]
- Three distinct endings and a pretty robust credits
The official trailer notes “use of drugs” as an element, which is undoubtedly what’s gotten the game refused classification. A listing isn’t available on the Classification Board website at the time of writing, but Devolver Digital confirmed the game had been RC’d in a release to media this morning. (The game is still available on Steam; the RC rating only impacts the Switch release at this stage.)
Kotaku Australia contacted Devolver for a statement, but the publisher declined to comment at the time of writing. We’ll also try and get more clarity from the studio and the Classification Board about the exact reasons for the ban, but from the sounds of things this was automated through the IARC process, which limits how much detail can be made publicly available.
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