Two months later, Starfield players want to know where Bethesda's bite has gone, labelling the RPG "way too PG-13"

gamesradar.com:

It's been two months since Starfield released, and players are starting to take notice of the RPG's surprisingly PG-13 approach to a galaxy reeling from a destructive war - especially in light of its Mature rating.

Starfield was awarded an M rating by the US rating service, the ESRB. Traditionally, that rating may denote "intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language." Similarly, it sports an 18 rating from the UK's PEGI board, which denotes a "level of violence [that] reaches a stage where it becomes a depiction of gross violence," as well as "the glamorization of the use of illegal drugs and of the simulation of gambling."

Technically, Starfield hits many of those criteria. It's a violent game in which much of your interaction with the world comes via the barrel of a gun. It might lack the full-fledged gore of Fallout, but Bethesda's use of the environmental blood-splatter is definitely here. PEGI specifically denotes the "motiveless" killing of innocent civilians as a reason for its 18 rating. There's no gambling, but there is an entire planet dedicated to the production, consumption, and, in some cases, theft of an illegal drug. These rating categories exist for a reason, and Starfield nestles firmly within them.

Nevertheless, there seems to be a large subsection of the community somewhat stumped by Starfield's sanitized take on the galaxy. In recent weeks, two players have taken to the game's subreddit to query the PG-13 nature of this M-rated RPG. In one post, a player asked "What's wrong with Bethesda and their take on nudity in an M-rated game?", asking "am I the only one who finds it weird that I can't even kiss my romancing option?"

Given the prevalence of violence throughout the