HuniePop 2 developer Huniepot announced that the upcoming puzzle will launch with its naughty content censored on Steam as opposed to what was previously teased.
That being said, the studio also teased the release of a 18+ patch to restore the censored content, which is pretty much what was done with the first game.
“I’ve been mulling it over ever since the censorship issue last year and I’ve decided that HP2 will launch with nudity censored on Steam just like HP1. Valve said it was fine but it’s become quite clear since then that it’s not. We cant help it if some madlad drops patch though”
While Steam semi-recently amended its policies pledging to accept on its storefront everything that isn’t seen as “illegal, or straight up trolling” there have been recent cases of visual novels removed from the store according to seemingly ambiguous parameters.
Huniepop explained the decision to play it safe to a fan who asked if the policy was changed again. Yet, they still acknowledged the fact that Steam might be facing pressure behind the scene-
“Officially, no, but there’s been some shady shit going down. Several devs have had their games pulled or made more difficult to discover on the store. It sucks, but, hey, I give them credit for still giving us a home at all. I’m sure they are facing pressures we don’t understand.”
We also hear that the uncensored version will still be available on other platforms from day one.
“All other platforms have allowed it (with the exception of GOG I believe) in the past. Even Humble have been total bros about it. So, it’ll most definitely be available day one.”
Valve’s new approach to approvals and removals for visual novels has been causing concern among developers working on visual novels.
For instance, Nekopara developer Neko Works mentioned worries about the release of Volume 4, which might be at the mercy of the decision of the folks working on Steam.
“We are aware that reviewers at Valve have changed their guidelines on approving visual novel titles ambiguously. Genuinely speaking, we are very concerned that the release of Nekopara Vol.4 will be at the mercy of this seemingly random decision.”
HuniePop 2 will release in 2019 for PC. If you want to see (and hear) more, you can check out a video introducing Ashley and one sampling the voices of the cast.
