The FMV horror game Vile: Exhumed was supposed to be released on Steam, but Valve threw a wrench in the works for the developer—and wrongfully so.
In line with stricter guidelines from payment service providers, Steam seemed to be targeting only adult and sex games. Several adult titles were removed from the store in recent weeks, while other games were spared.
But now, for the first time, a horror game has been hit: Vile: Exhumed, which was supposed to be released at the end of July but was suddenly blocked, unjustly.
What Vile: Exhumed is about
Vile: Exhumed is a horror game that is stylistically similar to titles such as Her Story, but with a much darker tone. You sit in front of the simulated screen of a strange computer and click your way through folders, chat histories, videos, and audio recordings. Piece by piece, you piece together the puzzle of a toxic relationship full of violence, control, and stalking.
Don’t expect any splatter effects or jump scares here. The horror comes from hints.
The horror doesn’t come from shock effects, but from anxiety, precisely because the staging seems so real. For example, you’ll find not only disturbing material on the strange computer, but also pictures of cats.
You can see how it all plays out on the horror YouTuber John Wolfe, for example:
Why the game was banned – and why it is now free
Shortly before its release, Steam banned the title on the grounds that Vile: Exhumed violated its rules on “sexual content involving real people.” Officially, this is the same accusation that has led to explicit adult games being removed from the platform.
The problem with this, however, is that the accusations do not fit the game.
According to developer Cara Cadaver, Vile: Exhumed contains no uncensored nudity, sex scenes, or pornographic content.
It does tackle sensitive topics such as stalking and abuse, but always in the form of hints; the whole picture only emerges in your mind.
This censorship of my work is a direct attack on creative expression and artistic freedom, and it will not stop with false accusations of sexual content.
Instead of quietly accepting the ban, Cara Cadaver decided to take an unusual step and has made Vile: Exhumed available to everyone for free.
- Anyone can now play the gamedownload it for free and play it.
- A voluntary donation option is included, with 50 percent of the proceeds going to aid projects for victims of violence.
By giving the game away for free to anyone who wants to play it, I’m basically doing the same thing I set out to do when I started Vile: Exhumed—a game about sexualized violence, male entitlement, and misogyny: I’m taking back my freedom of action.
What Valve says
Valve has now also responded to the website RockPaperShotgun regarding the ban. According to the statement, Steam has “never allowed games with sexual depictions of real people.”
As justification for removing Vile: Exhumed, the company refers to point two of its own content guidelines, which have been part of the onboarding document for developers for some time. This rule is therefore not new – however, the game does not contain any sexual depictions whatsoever.
This is precisely where the real controversy arises: Steam insists on its rules, while the developer emphasizes that this is a psychological horror trip with real actors and actresses that deals with difficult topics but never becomes pornographic.
