Latest news with #VILE:Exhumed
Engadget
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Banned Steam game VILE: Exhumed is back as a free shareware title
After her game was banned from sale on Steam in a baffling decision with no appeal option , solo developer Cara Cadaver has made VILE: Exhumed available as shareware under a Creative Commons license. The project can be downloaded for free, but players can opt to donate in support of the solo developer's work. Both Cara and publisher DreadXP will pay forward those donations, with 50 percent of the game's profits being given to the Toronto-based charity Red Door Family Shelter . The group aids families, refugees and women who are escaping violence. Both Steam and have recently adopted sweeping and vague policies regarding their approach to projects with adult content due to pressure from payment processors . has begun re-indexing some projects, but only free ones . These changes have disproportionately impacted projects by underrepresented and queer creators, according to a statement from the International Game Developers Association that condemned the broad delisting of adult games. In her post announcing the new distribution plan for VILE: Exhumed , Cara summed up the situation pretty aptly: "What this actually results in is taking power and storytelling away from women, other marginalized artists, and ultimately, from everyone."
Engadget
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
A terrific 2D Ninja Gaiden, housefly bucket lists and other new indie games worth checking out
Welcome to our latest recap of what's going on in the indie game space. A bunch of new games dropped this week that are more than worthy of your attention, including a modern take on an old-school Ninja Gaiden side-scroller and a joyful (perhaps even profound) puzzler about the life of a housefly. By far the biggest story in indie games over the last few weeks concerns payment processors pressuring the likes of Steam owner Valve and Itch to remove or de-index games that feature adult, NSFW and LGBTQIA+ themes. Under the guise of helping to protect women and children, an conservative activist group in Australia has taken credit for the delistings, as well as stricter rules regarding adult-themed games that Steam and Itch have implemented. But some affected developers suggest this is a smokescreen to push forward an agenda of anti-LGBTQIA+ censorship. This week, Engadget senior editor Jess Conditt spoke with solo developer Cara Cadaver of Final Girl Games about the impact of the censorship campaign. Valve permanently banned Cadaver's new game, VILE: Exhumed , from Steam for allegedly depicting "sexual content with depictions of real people," though the developer says that assessment is inaccurate. While Cadaver and publisher DreadXP are working on alternative distribution for VILE: Exhumed , Steam is the go-to marketplace for many PC gamers and the ban cuts off what surely would have been a critical source of revenue for the game. For its part, Itch has started reindexing free adult-themed games on its platform. The company has relied on Stripe and Paypal for processing payments. It has suspended payments via Stripe for 18+ content and it's talking to other potential payment partners "that are more willing to work with this kind of content." In any case, payment processors should not be the arbiters of morality, and they certainly should not be helping activists restrict access to perfectly above-board works of art. One other piece of news that caught my eye this week is about a game jam that's taking place this month. Participants will have just over three weeks to make games based on real-life investigative reporting. According to Global Game Jam, the teams will gain access to exclusive reporting on organized crime and corruption from around the world and be able to ask journalists behind those stories questions about their work. It's a fascinating idea, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the developers that get involved come up with. New releases Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is what I like to call a 'hell yeah" game. There are few purer joys than getting about 15-20 minutes into a new game and thinking 'hell yeah, this rules.' Even better, that feeling lasted through the other four hours or so I spent with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound . This is a throwback 2D hack-and-slash platformer from The Game Kitchen — the studio behind the Blasphemous series — and publisher Dotemu, which is building quite the reputation for itself as a purveyor of retro-style games ( Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge , the upcoming Marvel Cosmic Invasion ). Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound looks and sounds sumptuous, with gorgeous pixel art and stellar level, character and audio design. It's got combat that's somehow both sticky and slick, and it's challenging without being too frustrating. I've had a tremendous time with this one, which, if memory serves me correct, is the first Ninja Gaiden game I've played. I can't really find any notable faults with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound . It's well worth checking out. It's out now on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. Here's another 'hell yeah" game. I've been looking forward to Time Flies ever since I clapped eyes on it during a Day of the Devs showcase a couple of years ago. You play as a fly and the goal is to check off a bucket list of items before the insect perishes (their lifespan equates to the average life expectancy of a country of your choosing but in seconds). It's a clever, funny and slightly rude — in a playful, Thank Goodness You're Here sort of way — blend of exploration and puzzle game that makes a strong case as to why we should make the most of our limited time. It's a short game, as it took me about 90 minutes to roll credits. That's pretty much the ideal length for this one. The controls are simple (only a D-pad, pause button and a way to call up the bucket list are required) and the aesthetic, which features hand-drawn art, is delightfully low-key too. In fact, this would be a perfect fit for the Playdate, which just happens to come from Panic, the publisher of Time Flies . For now, though, you can check out this lovely little game from the team at Playables on Steam, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Whatnot Games released the 1.0 version Star Racer on Steam this week after over a year of early access. This is a retro racer very much in the vein of the F-Zero series that features local multiplayer (here's hoping for online multiplayer at some point) and music from Grant Kirkhope of Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007 fame. You can also create your own tracks and share them with others online. I love the launch trailer for Star Racer , which blends gameplay with '80s-style animation. I also adore that — per Rock Paper Shotgun — one of the characters is a "detective-looking fella called Thrash Whiplash." If that's not in the running for the best video game character name of the 2020s, we're all going to need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. We have yet another flavor of pretty, retro-tinged pixel art this week thanks to developers Ancient Corporation and Bitwave Games, as well as publisher Limited Run Games. Their 16 bit-style shoot-'em-up Earthion landed on Steam this week. It features music from legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro ( Streets of Rage, ActRaiser, Shenmue and many more games). That probably should not come as a huge shock given that he co-founded Ancient. Earthion is also slated to hit consoles starting in September. Being a Limited Run title, physical editions are of course on the way for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch. Expect those later this year. A physical version is also expected for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 2026. Surgent Studios went in a completely different direction for its follow-up to its well-received Metroidvania from last year, Tales of Kenzera: Zau . Its latest project (released with the help of the publishing arm of Palworld creator Pocketpair), Dead Take , is a first-person psychological horror about an actor who is looking for a friend who has vanished after a Hollywood party. There's top-tier videogame acting talent here, with Neil Newbon (Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3 ) and Ben Starr (Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI ) taking on the lead roles, and a litany of other well-known performers — from Laura Bailey to Sam Lake — also making appearances. That cast alone makes this worthy of attention. Dead Take is out now on Steam and the Epic Games Store. It feels like we've been waiting forever for Hobbit life sim Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game to drop and, following some delays, it's now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Steam. (This is now technically an indie game because Take-Two sold off publisher Private Division last year.) I love games that tell you exactly what they're about in their title and A Game About Digging A Hole sure is one of those. You dig a hole, find buried goodies, and sell them to help you buy better gear. Developer DoubleBee and publishers Rokaplay and Headup brought this exploration game to iOS and Android this week after a hugely successful debut on Steam earlier this year. A Game About Digging A Hole has now sold more than 1 million copies. Perhaps you're looking for a different digging game to check out this weekend. In that case, Mashina may be worth considering. The titular character is a robot that searches for valuable minerals to help repair and expand her community. Mashina can also use the minerals to build machines that can help with her digs, while she can use items she stumbles upon for base decoration. Developers Jack King-Spooner and Talha Kaya (who previously released Judero ) used traditional stop-motion techniques to animate Mashina . This charming-looking puzzle/exploration game is now available on Steam. Let's wrap up this section with a short, experimental game about anxiety. A Dream About Parking Lots has been out on Steam for a few months and the aptly named Interactive Dreams (with the help of Take It Studio!) brought it to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch this week. It's said to be based on real dreams and will see you looking for your car among parking lots and mazes while chatting with a therapist. Upcoming Wander Stars — from Paper Castle Games and publisher Fellow Traveller — was supposed to be arriving this week, but the developers have pushed the release date back until September 19. The team wants to carry out some changes to improve the game following feedback from an open beta. I really like the look of this one, and though turn-based combat isn't usually my cup of tea, I'm very intrigued by the system that's in use here. You'll find and combine words into phrases that convert into devastating attacks. There are more than 200 words and they have cooldowns, so combining them in smart ways will be a key to success. Using words "with honor" can seemingly help you unlock more useful phrases too. Very curious to see how all of that works in practice. We'll get a better idea next month, when Wander Stars lands on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC. Speaking of games with a killer look, a gameplay trailer for I Hate This Place hooked me in this week. This is an isometric survival horror game that pulls from the visual stylings of its comic book origins. Crafting is vital here, both in terms of your arsenal and strengthening your shelter before nightfall. This stylish title from Rock Square Thunder and publisher Broken Mirror Games is bound for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch later this year. If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
Engadget
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Itch.io starts reindexing free NSFW content
Digital storefront is reindexing its free adult games, and is talking to its partnered payment processors about plans to gradually reintroduce paid NSFW content. In a new Developer Update , the company said the decision will ensure it can "confidently support the widest range of creators in the long term." has instructed developers and creators who want their games back on the store to tick a 'no payments' box that sits in the pricing section of a game's edit page. It adds that any game that uses "individually priced files' will have those files converted into free content by checking the box. The company is also introducing a new content warnings system for NSFW-tagged pages, which it says all page owners are required to update accordingly before being reindexed. says it has talked to one of its long-standing payment processors, Stripe, about its policies on explicit adult content, and said it will no longer be able to take payments for games deemed to be "designed for sexual gratification" via the platform. This is due to new restrictions enforced by Stripe's banking partners. In a statement included in the update, Stripe said it hasn't closed the door on the possibility of being able to support adult content again in the future. In the meantime, says it is talking to its other payment partners about accepting the card payments Stripe is currently no longer able to process. The future of adult content on appears to be uncertain. It was only last week that all NSFW games on the platform were deindexed and hidden, following the new payment processor policies. The sudden and frustratingly vague rules Steam and introduced to remain in compliance with those payment processors have resulted in unjust casualties. This week, solo developer Cara Cadaver told Engadget that her game, VILE: Exhumed , has been removed from and banned by Steam on the basis of it having scenes of "sexual content with depictions of real people," a description she says is not accurate. VILE: Exhumed is a mainly text-based game, and has been well received in previews, landing a spot on Six One Indie 's Best of PAX East roundup back in May. Steam's decision to remove the game is not eligible for appeal.
Engadget
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
VILE: Exhumed is an unjust casualty in Steam's sweeping censorship campaign
Over the past few weeks, thousands of video games have been banned, removed and delisted from Steam and The justifications for doing so have been almost comically vague, and at least one highly anticipated title is now unable to be sold despite containing nothing objectionable. It started in early July, when payment processors including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal established new regulations concerning the types of games they would allow to be sold on the PC gaming platforms they support. The exact details of these regulations have not been made public. What we do know is that, in response on July 16, Steam added a sweepingly vague clause to its ruleset banning ' certain kinds of adult only content .' Hundreds of games were removed from the platform. On July 24, rolled out its own rule change and summarily deindexed every adult and NSFW game it hosted, which amounted to more than 20,000 titles being hidden from search and browse pages. is currently auditing this bunch and preparing to introduce new compliance measures for NSFW games. Among the games swept up in this tidal wave of censorship is VILE: Exhumed, the latest project from solo developer Cara Cadaver of Final Girl Games and publisher DreadXP. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. VILE: Exhumed takes place in the files and preserved BBS chatrooms of an old PC, as players hunt for clues in the disappearance of adult film actress Candy Corpse. It's an unsettling psychological experience that's mainly text-based, and it offers pixelated commentary on misogyny, sexual entitlement and parasocial relationships. VILE: Exhumed has been praised in multiple previews , even earning a place in Six One Indie' s Best of PAX East lineup this May. It was slated to hit Steam on July 22. As DreadXP director Hunter Bond and his team continued preparing the game for launch, they noticed it was taking an abnormally long time for Steam to approve its page. They submitted tickets to Steam asking for a status update, but heard nothing concrete back. The day before VILE: Exhumed was supposed to come out, Cara and DreadXP were forced to announce a delay . And On July 28, Cara announced VILE: Exhumed had been removed from Steam and banned from the platform. Steam told Cara that the action was triggered by scenes of 'sexual content with depictions of real people,' a description that she said doesn't apply to her game, since it deals in text and implication. The ban is not eligible for appeal and VILE: Exhumed can not be resubmitted to Steam. This effectively removes it from the mainstream PC gaming conversation entirely, since Steam essentially enjoys a monopoly in the market and there isn't a competing storefront with the same audience reach in town. Losing Steam access is a huge blow for small developers especially. VILE: Exhumed is a deeply personal project for Cara, one that she worked on for years. 'I poured myself into this game — it was an incredibly personal story, made up of bits and pieces of my real-life experiences, my real feelings, and was reflective of that for many other people as well," Cara told Engadget. "Silencing a story about violence, entitlement, and sexual expression (though the sexual content was all implied) shows the age we are living in, and I deeply worry for storytelling and art.' To put it clearly: Steam removed a solo female developer's game about misogynistic violence and banned her from attempting to list it ever again, and the platform's reason for doing so doesn't make sense to anyone who knows what's actually in the game. You can decide that for yourself, too: At least one full playthrough of VILE: Exhumed lives happily on YouTube , a site not known for tolerant views on nudity or adult themes. More confusingly, the original version of Cara's game, VILE , remains available and searchable on storefront, even though it includes much of the same content as Exhumed . This highlights a core issue with Steam and sudden and haphazard censorship plans. Vague rules against 'adult-only content' leave too much room for interpretation and invite overreach — especially in a society that's increasingly hostile to marginalized communities — while simultaneously doing very little to protect the audience from whatever demons the payment processors think they have identified. The rollout of the new regulations has been chaotic and already multiple games, including the horror hit Mouthwashing , have been inaccurately identified as casualties of the situation. Engadget has reached out to Visa, Mastercard and PayPal for information on what their new policies are and why they're being enacted. Only PayPal has responded with a generic statement that it does not comment on individual accounts. Valve has also not returned requests for comment. did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. This isn't the first time Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and other major payment processors have targeted online communities for censorship. The current PC gaming bans mirror previous efforts to restrict content on PornHub, OnlyFans and Patreon , to name a few targets. This sort of financial censorship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation says , "can heavily influence what kind of speech can exist online.' The International Game Developers Association has lodged its fierce opposition to the censorship campaign, and provides avenues for players to contact Visa and Mastercard directly with their concerns. 'We are alarmed by the vague enforcement of policies delisting and deplatforming legal, consensual, and ethically-developed games, especially from LGBTQ+ and marginalized creators,' the IGDA said. 'Developers deserve clear rules, fair warnings, and the right to appeal.' In the case of VILE: Exhumed , Steam is silencing a game that can help combat gender-based sexual violence, in the name of protecting players from being harmed by these same themes. VILE: Exhumed is uncomfortable, confronting, personal and raw — and that's the beauty of small, independent games. By all accounts, it doesn't belong in the Steam ban, and it's also likely not the only game unfairly swept up in the broad censorship campaigns hitting PC platforms, pushed by payment processors. "Indie development for me has been such a beautiful opportunity to create things and tell stories that mean something to me — and I hate that that freedom of expression is being taken from myself and others," Cara said. She and DreadXP are cooking up a new distribution plan that doesn't include Steam.
