Congratulations angry gamers, the word 'censorship' has officially lost all meaning. Censorship at its most literal is the suppression of speech, but that definition leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Some cases are very clear - the government telling a newspaper that they can't report negative stories on said government is obviously censorship. If you were denied access to a television appearance or had a book deal cancelled because you were Black or Jewish, that's also censorship.

However, if you were denied the same opportunities because you'd said hateful things about Black and Jewish people repeatedly, it would still technically be censorship, but most people in society would agree with the decision for the safety and wellbeing of others. What we can say for certain though is that not letting you see Ashley Graham's panties in Resident Evil 4 Remake is not censorship.

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I could write a paragraph or two laughing at you for being a weird, gross nerd who gets upset over not being able to see pixelated panties, and don't worry, I'll get to that. But there is a bigger issue at play here with our bastardisation of the idea of 'censorship'. It's bad enough that we take any kind of consequence for the worst forms of speech as censorship, but in gaming we use it to mean any development, change, or character type we don't like.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Ashley staring past the camera over a dark grey background

Censorship, even self censorship, is a real thing, and it can be a problem. Devotion is probably the starkest example of the practice in our medium - the Taiwanese game was pulled from stores the world over when it was found to have a mural that appeared to mock Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That’s real censorship, it’s a government stepping in to cease art that levies criticism towards the most powerful figures in the world.

There are forms of self-censorship which are self-serving and dangerous too. Changing the designs to put different clothes on characters in different regions is often labelled censorship, but that’s far less important than editing out LGBT+ content in certain regions, as Riot has done. It’s easier to be an ally in parts of the world where queer people are less persecuted, and to remove this content in territories where queer people have the smallest voice, the least power, and need the most support is a cowardly act of self-censorship that causes real damage. Ashley’s panties do not.

What you have to understand is that these games are products. Companies changing their products to better suit modern audiences isn't censorship, it's the entire point of a remake. I'd feel differently if companies were going back and removing the original entirely, as problematic art is still art and a time capsule of how past generations thought, but for remakes it's hard to care, and harder still when the silliest voices frame these changes as political crimes. It's not about protecting the sanctity of the original, otherwise you wouldn't want the remake at all. No graphical upgrades, no tweaks to the most annoying and outdated parts of the gameplay formula, no streamlining or modern tropes like fast travel.

ashley tearing up in resident evil 4 remake
via Capcom

Resident Evil 4 has not been censored, because the game you’re talking about is not Resident Evil 4. It’s a remake based on Resident Evil 4, which houses many changes to the gameplay, narrative structure, and character designs. If Capcom were somehow editing out the panty shots in the original, you’d have more of a case. But even then, not much of one, because there’s no actual harm being wrought by the inability to see Ashley’s panties, and that’s a definitive difference in what is censorship and in what we call censorship when we bastardise its meaning.

It's not censorship that Tifa no longer calls Cloud a "retard" in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, it's not censorship when Blue Protocol adds more clothing to Western character models, it's not censorship that Resident Evil 4 no longer talks about Ashley's "ballistics" (ie her breasts), it's not censorship that we can't see her knickers, and no piece of censorship in the history of mankind has ever been concerned with 'vagina bones'.

Now comes the part where we throw our head back in laughter. I don't even know where to begin with people not only being upset by this, but being so unashamed that their love for one of the greatest survival horror games of all time is tied to seeing a white flash of some panties. It's maybe unfair to blame these people entirely - this was not an accidental upskirt shot as a result of players attempting to force the game into odd positions. The game actively endorsed this behaviour. Ashley would react to players swinging the camera by hurriedly trying to cover herself and scolding the player, but the fact this was coded in rather than the devs removing this opportunity altogether essentially gave you permission. Some did exploit this further, trying to get different views up her skirt when crawling or on a ladder, but the game told you this was okay, even when it told you off for doing it.

resident evil 4 ashley

While it might have tacitly supported the whole idea of looking up Ashley's skirt, it was an entirely sexless act. The panties are white and plain, and never framed suggestively. The only excitement to be gained came from the violation of consent the act offered - these days we've seen this salacious joy evolve from looking up pixelated skirts to deepfake porn of streamers. Capcom is right to remove this feature from the game to avoid the implication that violations of consent are to be enjoyed and laughed at, rather than condemned.

That's before you even get onto the fact that, despite being 20 years old canonically, Ashley is clearly designed to look like a teenage girl, right down to the plaid skirt and the pure and innocent white panties. Ashley is often described as the most annoying part of the game, but it's these creepshots that stain Resident Evil 4's legacy. The remake is right to remove them, and if you're upset about that, you should know that a) it's not censorship, and b) you're a massive loser.

Next: I Hope Resident Evil 4 Remake Gives Ada Wong The Respect She Deserves