It’s been an arduous few months for Madmind Studio, the developers of Agony. Originally touted as a brutal, gory, and horrifying first-person experience that tasks you to make your way out of hell, its own namesake has become a parody of the experience. That’s because of numerous bugs, glitches, and middling presentation which lead to an agonizing playthrough. On top of all these, there were promises of uncut and uncensored footage which all went up in smoke. Thankfully, Madmind Studio has followed through with an even more mature take on their title — Agony Unrated — which will arrive on Steam this October 31, just in time for Halloween. Check out the trailer below:
Agony Unrated – Uncensored and Uncut
The ordeal of the player base of Agony must’ve been agonizing indeed due to Madmind Studio changing their stance about the release of an unrated version. It’s gotten everyone’s hopes up before dashing them all straight to hell. Kickstarter backers were generally upset because of how things turned out. However, Madmind Studio did note that they had something up their sleeve. For reference, this was the cryptic message that they left on their website:
Madmind Studios made an announcement earlier today regarding Agony Unrated along with an explanation of their legal entanglements. According to the company, the contracts they had for publishing and rating prevented them from releasing any patch or update that would remove censorship from the game. In order to release Agony Unrated, they had to choose an alternative route to “remain in the shadows by announcing the suspension of our work on the game.” Now that the contracts that originally bound them had expired, they’re free to share the details.
For now, Steam is the only platform that allows the possibility of releasing this version of Agony, although there’s a possibility for it — albeit very low — to arrive for console users. Indeed, releasing a boxed version with an “Adults Only” rating would be an option for it to release for consoles.
Agony Unrated – Features And Pricing
Agony Unrated will have more traps and environmental threats, opponents, and puzzles. There will also be various tweaks to the base game’s progression system, textures, lighting, and other technical improvements. Likewise, both Agony Mode and Sukkub Mode (being able to follow story mode as a Sukkub) will be available at the start. Last but certainly not least, Madmind Studio have also added numerous uncensored scenes.
As mentioned up top, Agony Unrated will release on October 31 — Halloween — for Steam users. You can check out the game’s store page here, although you might need to change your preferences a bit. For owners of the original game, a 90 percent discount will be offered (sadly, not 99 percent as originally believed). However, for Kickstarter backers, the game will be completely free and made available on October 29 instead.
It seems that a number of Agony fans are happy with the news while there are those who remain skeptical. Will this be a way to turn around fan reception of the game? Or will Agony Unrated just become another tormenting experience for its player base?
Update: Agony Unrated will be free on Steam for those who previously bought the original game.
