Importance Score: 65 / 100 🔴
A horrific rape and incest video game has sparked fury by encouraging players to be ‘women’s worst nightmare’.
The game, titled ‘No Mercy’, centres around a protagonist who rapes his family members including his aunt and his own mother.
Players of the vile game are instructed to ‘never take no for an answer’ in their ambition to ‘subdue’ and ‘own’ women.
Despite its horrendous themes, the game does not have an official age rating and was available for sale on Steam, the most popular digital game store.
The game’s developer, Zerat Games, published the game on Steam in March where children as young as 13 can make an account.
The game’s page was restricted to users 18 and older, but it is trivial for users to lie about their age since no verification is required.
Outraged gamers launched a petition with over 40,000 signatures demanding its removal, while UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle called the game ‘deeply worrying’.
While the game has now been removed following massive international backlash, the hundreds of players who already purchased a copy will still be able to play it.
A horrific rape and incest video game, titled No Mercy, has sparked fury for encouraging players to be ‘women’s worst nightmare’
No Mercy describes itself as a ‘3D choice-driven adult Visual Novel with a huge focus on Incest and Male Domination’.
Players are encouraged to act out horrific sexual violence against women for their own entertainment and to ‘never take ‘no’ for an answer’.
On its Steam page, the game proudly advertises that it contains violence, incest, blackmail, and ‘unavoidable non-consensual sex’.
Screenshots of the game and a trailer featured on the page contain sexually explicit and disturbing content with few barriers to prevent children from accessing them.
Creating a Steam account requires the user to be over 13, and a card is needed to make purchases.
But, before the game was removed from Steam, LBC reported that users could purchase No Mercy for £9.99 simply by ticking boxes claiming to be over 18.
In the UK, physical game releases are required to be certified by the Games Rating Authority (GRA) under the Video Recording Act.
Under this law, the GRA is responsible for the classification of all game releases and has the power to refuse a game certification for release.
The game’s developer, Zerat Games, published No Mercy to Steam, the biggest online game marketplace. The game proudly advertised itself as containing ‘incest’ and ‘male domination’ as well as what it calls ‘unavoidable non-consensual sex’
However, digital game releases are not covered by the Video Recording Act, and age ratings are largely optional.
Ian Rice, Director General of the GRA, told MailOnline: ‘Most online storefronts such as those managed by PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and Epic Games choose to mandate PEGI ratings for all products listed on their store.
‘Steam allows companies to display a PEGI rating if they have obtained one, but it does not mandate that a game receives a rating prior to release.’
Speaking to LBC, UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: ‘We expect every one of those [tech] companies to remove content as soon as they possibly can after being made aware of it.
‘That’s what the law requires, it is what I require as a secretary of state, and it is certainly how we expect platforms who operate and have the privilege of access to British society, and British economy, to do.’
Regulation of online video game content falls to OFCOM, the UK media watchdog, to which Steam has various legal obligations.
The regulator began its crackdown on harmful online content last month as part of the Online Safety Act but told LBC that it has not taken action in relation to No Mercy.
MailOnline has contacted OFCOM for further comment.
In the game players control a protagonist who rapes members of his family including his aunt and mother. The game’s Steam page tells players the goal is to ‘take what’s yours and show No Mercy’
Since Steam first allowed the sale of adult content in 2018, the company has moderated the category with a light touch, saying it would only remove games containing illegal or ‘trolling’ content.
In the UK, No Mercy may fall into this category due to a 2008 law that makes it illegal to possess ‘extreme pornographic images’.
The law specifically includes images depicting ‘non-consensual’ sex acts of various types included in the game No Mercy.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told LBC: ‘That sort of vile material is already currently illegal.’
Ms Cooper added that online gaming platforms should ‘show some responsibility’ over the content they publish.
After intense public outcry, Steam eventually made the decision to make No Mercy unavailable in Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Following Steam’s decision, the developer announced that they would be removing the game from Steam entirely.
In a post, Zerat Games complained that they ‘don’t intend to fight the whole world’ and continued defending the game.
The game has now been removed from the Steam store after intense public backlash, including a petition with over 40,000 signatures. However, anyone who already purchased a copy can still play the sick rape video game
The developer lamely argued that their sick rape simulator was ‘just a game’ and called on those who opposed it to ‘be a bit more open to human fetishes that don’t harm anyone, even though they may seem disgusting to you.’
While the game is now unavailable for purchase, Zerat Games added that anyone who already has a copy will still be able to play it.
Although the exact number of copies sold is difficult to determine, there are currently hundreds of active players still accessing No Mercy.
At the time of writing, there have been an average of 238 active players on the game at any given time according to SteamCharts, a service which tracks Steam activity.
Concurrent players peaked at 477 people yesterday afternoon after news of the game was first reported.
Steam was contacted for comment but did not immediately respond.