| RapeLay | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Illusion Soft |
| Publisher(s) | Illusion Soft |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | April 21, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Eroge |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | DVD |
| System requirements
Windows 2000/XP 1.4 GHz Processor, 128 MB of RAM (256 MB recommended), 8x CD-ROM, 32 MB DirectX 9-compatible video card, DirectSound-compatible soundcard |
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RapeLay (レイプレイ Reipurei) is a 3D eroge video game made by Illusion, released on April 21, 2006 in Japan. Compared to Illusion's previous games, the main story is shorter, it features an improved 3D engine, and is mainly played through mouse control. The game centers on a male character who stalks and rapes a mother and her two daughters. Three years after its initial release, the game garnered international attention and controversy for its content.
Contents |
RapeLay is played from the perspective of a chikan named Kimura Masaya, who stalks and subsequently rapes the Kiryuu family (a mother and her two daughters).
The player can choose from a variety of sexual positions, and controls the action by making movements with the mouse or by scrolling the mouse wheel. It features a realistic sexual simulator which allows the player to grope and undress the characters on a crowded train. Later, the player may have forced intercourse with all three women at his leisure. The player has a variety of sexual positions to choose from such as woman on top, forced fellatio (irrumatio), and threesomes. RapeLay also has a "nakadashi" (internal ejaculation) counter, which carries a danger of pregnancy.
After completing the storyline and "breaking" the girls, there are six modes of gameplay.
In story mode, the player rapes the three girls in the order of Manaka, Yuuko, and Aoi. The player starts off in the train station. Upon entering the train, the main character commits chikan on the female the main character is currently in the train with. After the main character finishes raping all three girls, the players has the option of free play scenes.[2]
The story begins with Kimura being arrested for groping Aoi on a subway train. His father is an important politician, and manages to get his son released from jail. The next day, Kimura waits outside the Kiryuu family house and listens to their conversation. He follows Manaka, the youngest, to the subway and gropes her on the train. After getting off the train, he traps her in a public bathroom and rapes her, taking pictures of her semen-covered naked body with his cell phone. Kimura instructs Manaka to feign sickness the next day, and stay in her room.[2]
The next day he follows Yuuko, the mother, from her house to the train station where he fondles her on the train. Kimura follows her to the city park, when Manaka calls Yuuko on her cell phone. As per his plan, Manaka tells her that she is in the bushes at the park, and when Yuuko walks towards the bushes, Kimura ambushes her and ties her up. He then rapes her in the park, and takes pictures of her semen-covered naked body before handing her over to his gang of helpers on the side, who detain her for him.[2]
The third day he follows Aoi, the oldest daughter, to the train station and shows her the photo of her tied up mother. Shocked, she can only follow his orders as he gropes her on the train. After getting off the train, she asks Kimura why he is doing this, at which point she remembers he is the chikan who was arrested for molesting her. Getting on a vehicle, he and his helpers take Aoi to a hotel which his family owns, and rapes her, again taking photos.[2]
After having his way with Aoi, Yuuko and Manaka are taken into the room via a secret door. With all 3 captured, he reveals his plans to make them his sex slaves. Of course, Yuuko tries to cover for her daughters, but breaks down in the end, Manaka breaks next, and finally Aoi as well.[2]
Despite being an open-ended game, there are two possible negative outcomes to the game. In the "Black ending"[3] the main character impregnates one of the girls and decides to keep the child. The result is having the main character fall onto the train tracks after a certain number of days afterwards.
In the "Red ending"[3] just before breaking Aoi, the character under cowgirl position will shift onto a scene, where Aoi would take a knife and stab the character many times. The scene will shift into black, where a voiceover of Aoi can be heard.[1]
Reviews by Something Awful and Honest Gamers express horror at the basis for the game.[4][5] Critics of violent game imagery, such as British Member of Parliament Keith Vaz, have cited games involving rape as an example of why video game content needs to be more strictly regulated.[6]
Citing RapeLay as an example, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, in his concurring opinion vis-à-vis the case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association wrote, "It...appears that there is no antisocial theme too base for some in the video-game industry to exploit."[7]
RapeLay in particular had come into Vaz's attention as being one of the rape games purchasable on Amazon.com, and he vowed to bring the issue into the British Parliament to prevent the game from being sold. Amazon subsequently removed the game from its website.[8] Equality Now followed up on the game, urging activists to write to Illusion and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in protest, arguing the game breaches Japan's obligations under the 1985 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.[9] These actions have culminated in the restriction of the sale and production of RapeLay by the Ethics Organization of Computer Software (EOCS), an independent Japanese ratings organization for adult games, making the purchase of the game impossible.[10]
The distribution of RapeLay has been banned in Australia due to a campaign run by Women's Forum Australia, under the Directorship of Melinda Tankard Reist.[11] Minister for Broadband Stephen Conroy (also behind the Australian Labor Party's internet filter plans) wanted Google Australia to censor search results for downloads of the game, but this did not eventuate.
Articles in defence have also been written, many noting that rape is a lesser crime compared to murder, yet there are thousands of legal video games in which the goal is to kill enemies.[12] Illusion's response to the controversy was one of bewilderment and a reiteration that the game passed Japanese laws and it is not sold outside Japan.[9] Illusion later removed references to the game from their website and ceased distribution of the game, citing concerns over the impact on the industry.[13]