Famitsu published a preview of the Rachel DLC on December 14th- including her alternate costumes. Fans were quick to notice her recurring “Fiend” costume had some alterations form past entries.

As noted above in the first three images, the costume has a black body suit underneath. Compared to prior entries (Dead or Alive 5 in the last image), the costume usually has no body suit, and exposed far more.

Famitsu also noticed this. “Rachel, who draws the blood of fiends, became a half-fiend with this costume. It originally had a lot of exposure, but a black body suit was added, increasing the coolness while decreasing the exposure!”

Despite there still being many lewd costumes in the game, it only helps remind fans of how the game initially toned down its sexuality (including jiggle physics), before fan outcry quickly brought it back.

This attempt to emphasize the series had not lost its sex appeal may be the reason behind the “core values” incident at EVO Japan 2019. Two models were hired as part of the Dead or Alive 6 demonstrations along with director Yohei Shimbori demonstrating the game’s features. Between matches they would attempt to recreate the game’s jiggle physics by slapping each other’s buttocks and bouncing up and down.

In addition, when Shimbori showed off the game’s free camera mode he would zoom in on female character’s butts, and paused the game while a female character was in the middle of being thrown; the freeze-frame giving allusion to the male character performing oral sex on her.

This resulted in the live stream suddenly being cut. Upon returning, one of the commentators apologized, stating the game “does not reflect the content or intention of EVO” and apologized if anyone was offended.

Later, EVO president Joey Cuellar (a.k.a. Mr. Wizard) took to Twitter to emphasize such activity was not part of the tournament’s “core values.” The term quickly became mocked, and was “meme’d” into becoming synonymous with sex appeal.

In other news, the official Dead or Alive Twitter account confirmed the release date for the Rachel DLC. In a series of tweets showing off Rachel’s moves (1, 2, 3, 4) confirming the character’s release date as December 17th.

Curiously, one of the tweets shows her seemingly stamping and crushing the genitals of another character. This only adds yet more confusion as why one of her costumes was changed, if not for censorship.

Artistic choice, or censorship? Sound off in the comments below!

Dead or Alive 6 is now available worldwide for Windows PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

In case you missed it, you can find our review for the game here.