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Japanese versions of Grand Theft Auto V have been altered to tone down some of the game’s notorious coarse moments, including the controversial torture scene.

When a game that’s filled with wanton violence, sex scenes, and a quite brutal torture sequence is made available across multiple global markets, it’s not uncommon that many countries make alterations and changes to reflect their age rating restrictions.

Japan has done so with GTA V, Rockstar’s open-world magnum opus, which has more than a few memorable vulgar scenes strewn within it’s dynamically layered story arc.

Specifically, Japan has toned down a variety of the game’s sex scenes and has even taken the gameplay aspects out of Trevor’s notorious torture scene, instead replacing it with a non-playable cut-scene.



Anyone who’s played through the mission will remember the interrogation scene; it’s as veritable landmark as one of the most shocking elements found within the game. Players take the role of Trevor, the game’s resident psychopath, and must choose their method of torture from tools like pliers (wiggle the analog sticks to yank the victim’s teeth out), a car battery for zapping, a heavy wrench to knock against the victim’s knee, gasoline, and even waterboarding.

In regular versions of the game, the scene can’t be skipped and must be played through to proceed. The sequence is heavily reliant upon satire, but has been seen as over-the-top by many. In a recent interview, Steven Ogg, Trevor’s voice actor, shared what it was like mo-capping the infamous scene.

In any case, it will be interesting to see if Rockstar is prompted to take the scene out in future copies of GTA V, similar to the alterations in GTA: San Andreas some years ago.

Kotaku has put together a side-by-side comparison trailer that takes a look at the Japanese alterations, but be forewarned, it contains a few spoilers.

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Via Kotaku