The Witcher 2 Features Drug Use, Severed Heads, and Castrations

We finally have a firm understanding of why the ESRB handed out a Mature rating to CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – severed heads, eye-gouging, bare breasts, pubic hair, castrations, drug-snorting, and the slitting of throats were all factors that were taken into consideration. From their rating summary:

This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of Geralt, a monster slayer who must hunt down an assassin to clear his own name. As players complete quests, they use swords and magic spells to kill enemy soldiers and fantastical creatures (e.g., specters, harpies, spider-like monsters) in melee-style combat; attacks are often accompanied by slashing sounds and screams of pain. Blood-splatter effects occur when enemies are hit, and damage sometimes results in dismemberment or decapitation blood stains and body parts occasionally appear in the environment. Other cutscenes depict gore and more intense acts of violence: a close-up view of a severed head; a restrained woman’s eyes getting gouged out (off-screen); a character being castrated (not depicted) before his throat is slit. During the course of the game, some female characters are depicted topless; there is also a fleeting image of pubic hair as a woman dives into the water. Players can initiate brief cutscene sequences that depict varying degrees of sexual activity: a topless woman rocking on top of man; a man caressing a woman’s back; a man pushing up against a woman’s posterior sexual moaning sounds can be heard, though the camera cuts away from explicit sexual acts. Some sequences depict a cocaine-like substance being cut into lines; another scene shows a man’s back as he snorts the substance. Language such as ‘f**k,’ ‘sh*t,’ and ‘c*nt’ can be heard in the dialogue.