Please note: This article has been updated to reflect new information.

PlayerAttack is reporting (via VG247) that the Australian Classification Board has refused classification for Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, the ultra-violent top-down action sequel to last year's hit title, meaning it can not be sold or distributed locally in Australia.

Dennaton Games' soon-to-be-released title was refused classification due to an apparent scene in the game that implied sexual rape, which can cause the game to instantly be banned in accordance with classification laws.

An excerpt from the report (via Kotaku AU) can be found here, though as a general warning it is graphical in nature:

In the sequence of game play footage titled Midnight Animal, the protagonist character bursts into what appears to be a movie set and explicitly kills 4 people, who collapse to the floor in a pool of copious blood, often accompanied by blood splatter. After stomping on the head of a fifth male character, he strikes a female character wearing red underwear. She is knocked to the floor and is viewed lying face down in a pool of copious blood. The male character is viewed with his pants halfway down, partially exposing his buttocks. He is viewed pinning the female down by the arms and lying on top of her thrusting, implicitly raping her (either rear entry or anally) while her legs are viewed kicking as she struggles beneath him. This visual depiction of implied sexual violence is emphasised by it being mid-screen, with a red backdrop pulsating and the remainder of the screen being surrounded by black.

According to the classification guidelines, games that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified;” will be Refused Classification.”

According to recent previews of the game to media, the scene in question was raised to the studio, with Dennaton noting that they were thinking of revising said scene. A detailed explanation from Dennaton's Dennis Wedin can be found here. The classification report also notes that this isn't an exhaustive list of the content that caused Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number to be refused classification in Australia.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is still expected to be launched sometime in Q1 of this year for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita for everyone else around the world.