In an interview from early 1998, Valve president Gabe Newell talked about the work begrudgingly undergone by the studio to avoid running into Germany’s media standards. Both have since been removed from the Index as well, and the 2016 version of Doom launched uncut in Germany, the first in the franchise to do so. Half-Life, as a mature-rated game with plenty of death and violence, was targeted by the BPjM quickly, just as similar prestige shooters like Doom and Red Faction were. Once something ends up indexed, it cannot be sold to anyone under the age of 18 - or even publicly advertised. The Review Board (or BPjM, as it’s short for in German) maintains an extensive list of standards to protect younger consumers from what it deems excessive violence, gore or other controversial elements. Known colloquially as “the Index,” the list is managed by the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Young Persons. It’s available to owners of the censored, original German release of Half-Life, and it replaces the edited version upon installation.
Valve released Half-Life Uncensored as downloadable content this week, following a report that the unedited game had been removed from Germany’s list of objectionable media. Now, local fans can check out the original, uncensored release for the first time ever as a free download on Steam. Since it launched there nearly 20 years ago, the German version of Half-Life has only been available with heavy content edits.
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