Sega is just a few months away from releasing its latest Sonic the Hedgehog game. To get the game in stores, the publisher recently submitted the title, known as Sonic: Lost World, to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to get its classification.
As it turns out, the ESRB found some seriously bleak language that involves genocide, strangling, and heart-eating.
The ESRB ended up giving Sonic: Lost World, which is due out Oct. 22 for Wii U and 3DS, an “Everyone 10+” rating — which is one above the “Everyone” rating — due to “mild cartoon violence” and the aforementioned “aggressive language.”
The cartoon violence is one thing, but the aggressive language that the ESRB lists is actually quite shocking, and it suggests that Lost World is probably the darkest Sonic game yet.
What kind of language? The ESRB listed the following lines in its rating summary:
- “You’re going home in a box.”
- “I’m going to skin you alive.”
- “I long for death’s cold embrace.”
- “I’ll get fat eating your black hearts.”
- “One second, you’re contemplating genocide.”
- “As long as I can still strangle a Zeti, my hands are fine.”
The ESRB didn’t specify which characters say these lines (I’m gonna pretend it was all Big the Cat). Likely, most of these things come from the villains. Still, genocide and heart-eating is some pretty heavy stuff for a game about an animated anthropomorphic hedgehog.
Sonic: Lost World is a new platforming Sonic game that combines the side-scrolling action of the Genesis games with some of the exploring of Dreamcast-era Sonic Adventure games.
Nintendo announced that Sega would release this title and two other games exclusively for Nintendo consoles at an event in May.