The Japanese Version Of Resident Evil 7 Is A Lot Less Violent

Different regions have different standards on what kind of content is allowed in their media. While it might seem like the Japanese anime are extremely violent at times, it turns out that their games are actually less so. Case in point? Resident Evil 7, which is a lot less violent than you may have been expecting.

YouTube outlet Censored Gaming did a comparison video between the North American and Japanese version of Capcom's Resident Evil 7. The video starts with the clips featuring Jack Baker telling Ethan to look in the refrigerator. In the North American version when Ethan opens the refrigerator the deputy from earlier that Jack Baker killed has his decapitated head in the fridge with a photo attached to it. His head has been grossly mutilated. Players are able to rotate the head around and examine it.

In the Japanese version of Resident Evil 7, when Ethan opens up the refrigerator the head is completely missing. In its place is simply the photo of the deputy with a red 'X' on it and instructions to check the dissection room for his body.

The next clip shows when Ethan has to reach down the neck of the deputy where his severed head used to be. The body squirms and twitches in response as the snake key is retrieved from inside his body. In the Japanese version the deputy's head is still attached to his body and the snake key is simply set on the dissection table next to his head.

The clips are a bit reversed, but there are some minor spoilers ahead. The next comparison shows how the deputy is killed, and we see that in the North American version of Resident Evil 7 Jack uses the shovel to completely slice off the upper head of the police officer. In the Japanese version the shovel simply impales him through the head and he falls down and dies.

In the last clip, when Ethan retrieves his severed hand we see that it's a bloody mess. The American version of Resident Evil 7 doesn't hide the fact that it's a disturbing and gross thing. The Japanese version turns the blood black and darkens out the severed bone and muscle tissue that's visible in the North American version.

A rather interesting discussion breaks out in the comment section centered around why certain things are censored in Japan and not in America, and why certain things in America are censored but not in Japan. It's explained that the CERO rating system (equivalent to the ESRB in North America) has different standards and rules for Japanese games as opposed to Japanese anime and movies. It's why certain forms of nudity are allowed in Japanese anime but not in their games, since CERO rates the games not the anime. Just like in North America, many game developers in Japan try to get the lowest CERO rating possible to avoid the Z rating, which is equivalent to the AO rating from the ESRB.

Censored Gaming has been doing a lot of these videos in the past couple of years to help educate and offer culture guidance on the differences between game releases in different regions. As you can see, the Japanese ended up with the short end of the stick when it comes to the violence and gore of Resident Evil 7... assuming you enjoy lots of gore in your games.