The studio behind No Mercy, a recently released 3D visual novel featuring non-consensual sex and incest, has announced that it plans to remove the game entirely from Steam after the game attracted controversy online. Valve pulled the game from the United Kingdom version of Steam after a government official slammed Valve for allowing No Mercy to be sold on the storefront.
Content warning: This article includes references to rape, sexual assault, and incest.
No Mercy was released on March 22 on PC via Valve’s super popular digital gaming storefront Steam. The game is described by the developers as a “3D choice-driven adult Visual Novel with a huge focus on Incest and Male Domination.”
In the game, players discover that their mother has cheated on their dad and they are then told to “claim her for yourself.” This leads to multiple scenes involving the player forcing women, including their character’s own mother, to have sex with him. The game’s description on Steam includes this line: “Unveil her deepest secrets, subdue her, and make all women yours.”
Many people online weren’t happy that Valve would allow No Mercy to be sold on Steam. An online petition demanding the game be removed reached over 10,000 signatures on Change.org.
On April 9, as spotted by GamesIndustry.biz, UK technology secretary Peter Kyle said that No Mercy was “deeply worrying” in comments made on British talk radio station LBC. He further explained that he expects “every [tech company] to remove content as soon as they possibly can after being made aware of it. That’s what the [Online Safety Act] requires, it is what I require as a secretary of state, and it is certainly how we expect platforms who operate and have the privilege of access to British society, and British economy, to do.”
No Mercy is labeled as “Adults Only” and could only be bought using a credit card. The game is not rated by the ESRB or PEGI as Valve doesn’t require games to be rated by these groups to be sold on Steam. Following Kyle’s statements and increasing pressure online, No Mercy was removed from the UK as well as Australia and Canada, presumably by Valve.
Kotaku has reached out to Valve for more information.
On April 10, following all of this and the game being removed from some countries, Zerat Games—the developers behind No Mercy—posted a lengthy response to the controversy on Steam, addressing calls for the game’s delisting. In the statement the studio confirmed it was removing No Mercy from Steam but nonetheless defended the game, stating that real incest is “disgusting” but that things like that, rape, and male domination are nonetheless popular “kinks” for many.
“I fully understand that for many people such things may be disgusting, but during sex, people should really do what they want, as long as they don’t harm anyone,” said Zerat Games.
“If after reading [our statement] you still believe that such a game should not have been created, then we sincerely apologize to you. At the same time, we would like you to be a bit more open to human fetishes that don’t harm anyone, even though they may seem disgusting to you. This is still just a game, and although many people are trying to make it into something more, it remains and will continue to be a game.”
As of 4:30 PM EST on Thursday, No Mercy is still available to purchase on Steam. Players who bought the game will be able to continue to download, install, and play No Mercy after it’s removed.
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