Following on from the recent news that Volition's open-world title Saints Row 4 had been refused classification in Australia, the Classification Board has handed down a second RC rating, this time for Undead Labs' State of Decay.

According to a recent post by executive producer Jeff Strain on their official forums, “we’ve run afoul of certain prohibitions regarding the depiction of drug use.". “We’re working with Microsoft to come up with options, including changing names of certain medications in the game to comply with ratings requirements. Whatever our path forward, it’s going to take a bit.”

Microsoft has revealed an official statement (thanks games.on.net) regarding the title's recent circumstances;

“Today, State of Decay was given a Refused Classification (RC) rating by the Australian Classification Board,” said Microsoft, in a statement sent to Kotaku, “meaning that the game cannot be made available to Australian customers at this time. Microsoft is currently evaluating the options with regards to the title’s classification.

“Microsoft operates within the legal requirements of the Australian Classification Board when it comes to the rating of all its first party gaming titles and agrees that not all content is suitable for all audiences. The Australian Classification system plays an important role in ensuring that Australians can only access age appropriate games and content.”

The official report from the Classification Board (via Kotaku) has been revealed, showing that the game has been given the Refused Classification due to the "option of self-administering a variety of “medications” throughout gameplay which act to restore a player’s health or boost their stamina." A number of the drugs available to the player include codeine, aspirin, “trucker pills”, painkillers and tussin. Of those listed in the statement, methadone, morphine, and amphetamines are proscribed drugs and the term “stimulant” is commonly used to refer to a class of drugs of which several are proscribed.

Obviously games before State of Decay have utilised drugs as stimulants (see: Left 4 Dead 2 or Fallout 3) however it seems that the Board's decision is due to the game being difficult to complete without using the drugs.