There’s an R18 + game among us, according to the eSafety...

Between us is the newest deceptive party game for everyone. Unless you ask the Australian eSafety Commissioner who thinks the game should be classified alongside things like Cyberpunk 2077.

A listing for Between usThe official website of the Australian eSafety Commissioner has over 267,000 reviews on Steam and countless downloads on mobile devices. The eSafety Commissioner often publishes small pieces of advice on the most popular video games and apps online to help parents out.

Most of these are simple explanations: What is TikTok and links to protect personal information? a quick introduction Apex Legends and how it works; and how things like Facebook work. Even Doki Doki Literaturclub has its own little official guide for eSafety commissioners:

Doki Doki Literature Club is a free psychological horror computer game that starts out as a dating simulation about a high school boy chasing various girls. However, the game quickly puts the player into profound situations that can make him very uncomfortable and nervous. At some point in the game, a character takes his own life and there is nothing the player can do to prevent it. This content has been described as incriminating and warns, “The game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.” The Doki Doki Literature Club can be downloaded onto a computer with Mac iOS or Windows.

So you can understand why Between us, which had tremendous success in the past few months, would appear on a government website. There is one small quirk though: According to the eSafety commissioner, the misleading party game R18 + is:

The site says the game will be rated 18+ “according to Between us“But there is no such age recommendation from developers or platform owners. The iOS listing rates Between us as suitable for 9 year olds or higher; The Google Play list says “Everyone 10+”. (Between us was not officially classified by the Classification Board or the online IARC tool, so there is no age rating or guidance on the Steam list.)

It’s funny, if only because the eSafety commissioner – inaccurately – told the Australian parents that Between us is less suitable for children than games like call of Duty, Fourteen days, Code Vene, Counter-Strike and Dota 2. (Interesting, World of Warcraft is rated as an 18+ game while Apex Legends is 13+ and Doki Doki Literaturclub is 15+.)

Another point I find interesting is that the eSafety Commissioner does not appear to raise or refer to Australia’s classification ratings. These are specifically designed to provide similar guidance and advice to parents. It is therefore strange that the eSafety Commissioner then refers to reviews of its own developer. Or in Between usThese are ratings that appear to be placeholders and nothing that reflects the actual guidelines of the developer (or first-party platforms).

Anyway, I’m sure some parents don’t want their children to play Between us whatever. Can you imagine the family arguments when everyone is stabbing each other? At least we all have Fourteen days. Or Roblox – which probably has its own Between us Spin-off already.