Well this is a strange turn of events. Namco released an all new trailer for Dark Souls II, which showed off not only some sweet new story elements, but many ways a player can, and most likely will, die in the game.
However something else caught our eye. It happens so quick that you might miss it. Apparently the game's ESRB rating is T for Teen, which is strange, considering Dark Souls and Demon's Souls both have an M rating attached to them. Should this call for concern?
Many are stating that the reason behind Dark Souls' M rating was the boss fight with Quelaag. Why Quelaag? Well because she was basically a topless witch with a giant spider body. As disgusting as she was on her lower half, the top half was definitely seductive enough to apparently warrant an M rating.
However, this seems to be debunked since Demon's Souls also had an M rating and had absolutely no boss fights and enemies that were scantily clad, or partially nude like this.
Since I haven't completely played through Demon's Souls, I even made sure by asking our resident Dark/Demon's Souls expert, Andrew Clouther, who has confirmed no such enemies are present in Demon's Souls. So why give Dark Souls II a Teen rating? Especially considering the fact that it still says 'Partial Nudity.'
A few have speculated that maybe From Software and Namco Bandai are trying to make the game more accessible to a wider audience, especially since there are still many parents who abide by the ESRB rules when actually purchasing games for their kids. With a Teen rating, that's a whole age range that they can now cater to.
Even after playing the beta, we noticed that nothing was necessarily toned down, or noticeable that should cause for alarm.
Is the Teen rating something you're worried about, or is your excitement overcoming this fear? Let us know your theories on why you think this game was rated T instead of M.
