You’ve probably seen the "M for Mature" logo a thousand times. It’s the badge of honor for Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and basically every game where you can blow things up or hear some creative swearing. But there is a rating above that. A rating so heavy that most major retailers won't even put the box on their shelves. I'm talking about the Adults Only (AO) rating from the ESRB.
Honestly, the list of AO games is surprisingly short. Why? Because in the gaming industry, an AO rating is basically a "kiss of death."
Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have a long-standing policy: they don't allow AO-rated games on their consoles. If you make one, you’re stuck on PC, and even then, Steam used to be pretty picky about it. It’s the ultimate taboo. Let’s look at the heavy hitters and the weird outliers that actually earned this badge.
The violent outliers: When "Mature" isn't enough
Most people assume AO is just for pornographic content. That's a fair guess. But a handful of games got slapped with the rating purely for being "too mean."
Hatred (2015)
This is probably the most famous modern example. Hatred is a twin-stick shooter where you play a guy who—to put it lightly—hates everyone. There is no moral high ground. No saving the world. Just a nihilistic rampage through suburban neighborhoods. The ESRB gave it an AO because of its "context." While other games like Gears of War have more gore, Hatred felt grounded and cruel. It was briefly kicked off Steam Greenlight before Gabe Newell himself stepped in to put it back.
Manhunt 2 (2007)
Rockstar Games is no stranger to the headlines. But with Manhunt 2, they flew a bit too close to the sun. The game featured execution scenes so graphic—think pliers and garden shears—that the ESRB handed down an AO. Rockstar actually had to go back and "blur" the kills with a psychedelic filter just to get the rating down to an M so they could sell it on the Wii and PlayStation 2. If you find an uncut version today, it’s usually the AO-rated PC port.
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Thrill Kill (1998)
This one is a legend in the "games you weren't supposed to play" category. It was a four-player fighting game set in Hell. It was finished. It was ready to ship. Then Electronic Arts (EA) bought the publisher, Virgin Interactive. EA took one look at the gimp suits, the severed limbs, and the overall "Adults Only" vibe and killed the project entirely. They didn't even want to sell the rights to someone else because they didn't want the brand associated with it. Of course, the internet being the internet, the ISO files leaked, and people have been playing it on emulators for decades.
The "Hot Coffee" incident: When San Andreas went AO
This is the big one. In 2005, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was already a massive hit with an M rating. Then a modder found a hidden mini-game in the code.
It was called "Hot Coffee." It allowed players to engage in a rhythmic, albeit crudely animated, sex mini-game. Rockstar initially claimed hackers "made it up," but the truth was the code was already on the disc; it was just disabled. The backlash was nuclear.
- The Re-rating: The ESRB changed the rating from M to AO overnight.
- The Recall: Major stores like Walmart and Target pulled every copy from the shelves.
- The Fix: Rockstar had to manufacture new "Cold Coffee" discs and offer a patch to keep their M rating.
It cost the company millions. It also changed how the ESRB looks at "hidden" code forever.
The actual list of AO games (Mostly porn and gambling)
Beyond the "famous" ones, the vast majority of the list of AO games consists of titles you’ve likely never heard of unless you were browsing the back aisles of a PC software store in 1997.
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- Peak Entertainment Casinos (2003): This is the only game on the list that isn't about sex or violence. It got an AO because it allowed players to gamble for real money. In the eyes of the ESRB, that's an automatic 18+ requirement.
- Lula 3D: A bizarre, low-budget adventure game about a porn star. It’s objectively bad, but it’s 100% Adults Only.
- Playboy: The Mansion (Private Party Expansion): The base game was M-rated (mostly just "Hefner Sim"), but the expansion pack added enough graphic content to tip the scales.
- Agony (Unrated Version): A 2018 survival horror game set in a very... anatomical version of Hell. The developers had to cut content for the console release, but the PC "Unrated" version is pure AO.
- Seduce Me (2013): A social simulator that was actually banned from Steam for a while because of its explicit nature.
Why the rating is disappearing
We don't see many "official" AO ratings anymore. Not because games are getting tamer—if anything, they're getting wilder—but because developers have learned how to play the game.
If a studio knows they have "AO" content, they usually release two versions. They put the M-rated version on consoles and Steam, then release a "Free 18+ DLC" or an "Unrated Patch" on their own website. This allows them to stay in the good graces of the big storefronts while still giving their audience the "full" experience.
Also, the rise of the "Adult Only" section on Steam (after 2018) changed everything. Valve eventually stopped being the morality police and just started requiring age-gates. Now, you can find thousands of explicit games on Steam that would technically be AO, but many of them don't even bother going to the ESRB for an official rating because they aren't planning on a physical retail release anyway.
What you need to know if you're looking for these
If you're hunting for the list of AO games to actually play them, keep a few things in mind. First, don't expect a masterpiece. Many AO games rely on shock value because their gameplay is, frankly, garbage. Hatred is repetitive. Lula 3D is broken.
Second, check your platform. If you’re on a PS5 or Xbox Series X, you aren't playing these. Period. You’ll need a PC and likely a trip to some of the more "open" storefronts like GOG or itch.io, which are much more relaxed about adult content than the walled gardens of console gaming.
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The ESRB has only handed out this rating to about 30-40 games in its entire 30-year history. Compare that to the thousands of M-rated games, and you realize just how rare (and usually doomed) an AO title really is.
If you want to explore the history of gaming's "forbidden" side, your best bet is to look into the PC versions of Manhunt 2 or the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" patch. They represent a weird time in the mid-2000s when the industry was still figuring out where the line actually was. Now, the line is still there—it’s just that most developers have gotten much better at stepping right up to it without falling over.
To see the current state of these ratings, you can check the official ESRB database, though they don't always make it easy to filter specifically for AO titles due to their rarity. Most modern "adult" games simply skip the ESRB process entirely to avoid the "kiss of death" label while still reaching their audience online.
Actionable Insight: If you’re a collector, original "Hot Coffee" era copies of San Andreas with the AO sticker are actually quite valuable. Look for the "First Edition" labels before the "Greatest Hits" or "Platinum" re-releases, as those have the content scrubbed out.