A few weeks ago we leaned that Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is the first Final Fantasy title to receive a "M for Mature" rating, and today the ESRB released the rating details, revealing the reasons.

The content descriptors are: Blood, Drug Reference, Suggestive Themes, Violence.

The blurb also provides more details on the game's contents:

This is an action game in which players assume the role of students fighting to protect their nation from invaders. Players traverse fantasy environments and battle enemy soldiers and other creatures in melee-style combat. Players use swords, bows, firearms, and magic spells to kill various enemies (e.g., robots, blobs, mechanical beasts). Battles are accompanied by realistic gunfire, screams of pain, and large blood-splatter effects; some sequences depict blood stains on players' screen and corpses lying in pools of blood. Cutscenes depict additional acts of violence: a man stabbing himself with a sword; a girl shot by a sniper; a character shot close-up. During the course of the game, some female characters are depicted in outfits that expose large amounts of cleavage and jiggling breasts. In one sequence, players can use a spy camera to zoom in on a female character wearing a bikini. The game includes event scenes in which a character sedates/drugs players' character and performs unknown acts on them; it is implied that some of these acts may be of a sexual nature.

The game definitely has a much more grim and realistic approach to war and violence than the previous chapters of the franchise, and that's why (even if it's not exactly considered a numbered chapter) it marks a rather relevant departure from the usual themes.

Considering that Final Fantasy XV is developed under the same Game Director (Hajime Tabata), it'll be interesting if the next numbered chapter will follow the same route.