Disclosure: Nighthawks writer Richard Cobbett has contributed articles to RPS, with his most recent as of writing being a Fable-themed feature from 2018.
Vampire RPG Nighthawks has been slapped with a mature content label just as its release beckons, in the latest high-profile instance of Valve’s determination of what constitutes an adult game proving controversial. Developers Richard Cobbett and Wadjet Eye Games say they’re working on convincing Valve to reverse the decision, which would allow the game to once again show up in Steam searches and no longer be banished to horny jail in some countries.
“We are aware that Steam has classified Nighthawks as an adult game and has excluded it from searches (and delisted it entirely in certain countries),” Wadjet Eye’s Dave Gilbert wrote in a Bluesky post. “We are working on it. Valve is under the impression that this game is way sexier than it actually is.” He later added in the same thread that “Valve is basically treating Nighthawks like a porn game!”
Speaking to PC Gamer, Nighthawks developer Richard Cobbett said that he and Wadjet Eye are “not sure exactly what triggered the issue”, so have reached out to Valve and are “hoping that they will quickly remove the scarlet letter”. He added that, as far as the game’s sexy bits go, “we’re talking a few butt shots and some other censored naughty bits, mostly as part of companion romances and similar content, where you don’t get to see anything explicit”. Dates, the dev said, “ultimately don’t go much further than a tasteful fade to black” once the saucy night activities really kick off.
I’ve reached out to Valve for comment.
We’ll see whether the adult label ends up being taken off Nighthawks once Valve have had another look, as looks to have happened with similarly affected satirical game Future? No Thanks! last month.
The vampire RPG, which has been in the works since 2018, is due to release on September 22nd.