Games with "adult" themes but that aren't really "adult" games

[TheImmortalP]

I put shadow the hedgehog because it tries to be mature and edgy by having guns and mild swearing in it.

That's not something that's actually mature. It's edgy.

Regarding FF 6, if you save Cid the suicide scene doesn't happen. Also, the scene of Celes being beaten was toned down when the game was released.

How is the first one censorship?

 

[Turbo Kid]

I was thinking of the scene where she gets beaten, I just mentioned the suicide as another example of how dark the game was. It is interesting though that they made that scene easy to miss.

 

[TheImmortalP]

I was thinking of the scene where she gets beaten, I just mentioned the suicide as another example of how dark the game was. It is interesting though that they made that scene easy to miss.

I think it's pretty hard to miss, I've never not seen the scene before I knew that you could save him, and I had to save and reset like crazy.

 

[Rocket2049]

Mass effect games
elder scrolls games (morrowind, oblivion, skyrim)
fallout games
Mafia games
Baldurs gate games
Witcher games

...i noticed all of those are non-japanese games, anything i can think of was already mentioned (Nier Automata, NNK2, some dragon quest games)

 

[TheImmortalP]

On a related note, the game is rated 6+, and moments like it are a testament to how much I think kids can handle. I knew exactly what was going on when I was young and played it, and it's both the most emotionally impactful moment in the game, and my favorite part of the game.

Post automatically merged: Sep 29, 2025

Mass effect games
elder scrolls games (morrowind, oblivion, skyrim)
fallout games
Mafia games
Baldurs gate games
Witcher games

...i noticed all of those are non-japanese games, anything i can think of was already mentioned (Nier Automata, NNK2, some dragon quest games)

Right on all counts! Well, except for Fallout Shelter and from what I've seen Fallout 76, those games seem to be all edge.

 

[Turbo Kid]

On a related note, the game is rated 6+, and moments like it are a testament to how much I think kids can handle. I knew exactly what was going on when I was young and played it, and it's both the most emotionally impactful moment in the game, and my favorite part of the game.

Post automatically merged: Sep 29, 2025

Right on all counts!

It's worth mentioning that kids were not as protected in the 80s and 90s as they are today. Today something like that would have a trigger warning

 

[Lweo4]

Wow, lots of suggestions, thanks guys, I'm going to check them later (even though a lot of them are more trying to be edgy than mature, but it's my fault for not specifying it right), I was thinking more about how a game can push "limits" about their themes without having to rely on things like explicit sex/violence (I like cyberpunk2077 and Witcher 3, but they're adult "adult" games).

For example, being an adult, Tales of Xillia 2 was oddly comforting touching on themes like having a debt with the bank, being broke while having to deal with a lot of things, seeing how politics play out and the guys on the "good side" were also havin to do not-so-great things, because you can't always be gentle or reason with others, is not that deep, but it was great.

Also, most of them I already played, that one's my fault for playing games so much lol.

Post automatically merged: Sep 29, 2025

I mean, yeah, most of the Tales games do this very well:
Graces f deals with growing up and growing apart from your friends, and what happens when you end up on conflicting sides of a war.
Berseria is about grief, revenge and what it really means to be a family. It was honestly a more mature and nuanced revenge story than something like the Last of Us II.
Zestiria explores religious idealism, how heavy the weight of expectations placed upon a "chosen one" really are and the sacrifices such a title requires to be lived up to.

Also, Ni No Kuni II. It has what could be the start of a very basic revenge story, but ultimately tells a story of rebuilding from loss, of building a better future for everyone.

Hell yeah, almost every Tales Of game has something more or less mature going on, Rebirth touches a lot on racism, the ones I still need to finish are Rebirth, Hearts, Innocence, Legendia, Phantasia and Eternia. Symphonia genuinely surprised me with Lloyd and the other characters being quite mature (excluding Genis as he is a literal child), as with the story itself too with blind faith and prejudice on half-elves. I mean, the games aren't that deep on the subjects, but you can think for them yourself.

I have to try Ni No Kuni 2 one of these days.

 

[Bandini]

Fragile Dreams
To the moon
Eternal Sonata
Tales of Graces
Abe´s Oddysse
Heart of Darkness

 

[Dew Prism]

Yes, true mature games are hard to come by these days.

Final Fantasy Tactics WotL and Tactics Ogre are definitely in that category. But you've probably already played them. And honestly, many of the SMT games like Strange Journey and SMT IV are very mature games, not edgy at all. Front mission is pretty good for this as well.

Basically what you're looking for is realism, where people behave in a more realistic way to the situation they're in, and many of the typical anime tropes are not included. Like excessive humor and characters being goofy.

If you notice, many of the type of games you're looking for end up becoming classics, so of course they're not going to be easy to come by. It takes great minds to create these kind of stories. To be honest, I just read manga for this, because it's not easy for a video game to include all of the detail that is required for kind of epic stories.

 

[Graw]

V's Main character make Lucas from Mother 3 look like a privileged kid

DQV has you ending a generation with both parents turned to rock, which the kids then have to go look for.

Yeah honestly I forgot about V's fairly bleak main story. It's been a while since I played it.

 

[Frickinfrik]

That's not something that's actually mature. It's edgy.

Well it tries to be mature but fails horribly at it.

 

[Bakuma1997]

If you read the manuals, Metal Slug is pretty sad despite the games being goofy ass shooters, basically Morden, the main villian, became a villian when his family was lost in a terrorist attack that the Regular Army, more specifically the guys your characters are a part of, could prevent, Metal Slug 2 onwards is pretty silly with the debut of aliens, but the first one is surprinsingly serious and grim, with a mission showing a city being destroyed in the war with civilians being scared and the credits showing a paper plane flying thourgh the devastation and bloodshed and a girl crying over a grave, if you beat it in 2 player mode you get a slightly less bitter ending at least

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

If you read the manuals, Metal Slug is pretty sad despite the games being goofy ass shooters, basically Morden, the main villian, became a villian when his family was lost in a terrorist attack that the Regular Army, more specifically the guys your characters are a part of, could prevent, Metal Slug 2 onwards is pretty silly with the debut of aliens, but the first one is surprinsingly serious and grim, with a mission showing a city being destroyed in the war with civilians being scared and the credits showing a paper plane flying thourgh the devastation and bloodshed and a girl crying over a grave, if you beat it in 2 player mode you get a slightly less bitter ending at least

The original Metal Slug was purely by Nazca, the sequels were by SNK (then Playmore for 4 and SNK Playmore for the other sequels).

I do miss the grittier and more down to Earth feeling of the first game.