Games have a lot of taboos in them, murder being the most common, theft following closely behind, some may allow torture, framing, or give some moral decisions in the storyline. Cannibalism of human flesh is often left for horror games like Resident Evil or perhaps a Lovecraftian horror due to zombification or outright insanity. Skyrim however allows it as a choice with no pressure.
According to the BBFC website, which I’ll have you know is a good resource for gaming information, Bethesda provided details on Skyrim which included a mention as to the option of joining a cannibal group, which of course results in eating human flesh.
Cannibalism has been a theme in one way or another in multiple Bethesda games, such as vampirism in Oblivion requiring you to devour others to survive, or Fallout having vendors who sold soylent green human flesh. Group cannibalism however is quite rare and it’s likely if they’re going to throw this in without batting an eyelid, Skyrim is likely going to be far more grimdark and gritty on one side of the storyline than it’s predecessor. However no gruesome details are shown, as the game is rated 15 in the game, and that level of violence would get it jacked up to 18 in a flash.
I’m very surprised at the mention of this addition, of course I have played some… cough… imported games that have some rather extreme taboos in the storyline at various points (Welcome to Japan), but eating a human being isn’t in any of them. Well, it happens in one but the main character is so screwed in the head with hallucinations it doesn’t really count. Having such themes in a game really does push the envelope.
