Developer Statement (2026) :
One year ago, I called the launch of VILE: Exhumed one of the most stressful weeks of my life. I was so upset, and rightfully so, but it’s funny what some time and distance can do.
It was the week my publisher worked insanely hard to give my game, and my voice, a platform. It was the week that so many people voiced support for the game, the difficult story I was telling, and for me as a developer. It was the week I talked to so many nice and talented people who wanted to write about my work, and what was happening to it. It was the week that even though I didn’t realize it, I celebrated creative freedom, and so did all of you.
It was the week my game came out, which is all I actually ever wanted.
The thing was, when it did come out, a lot of the conversation was focused on the ban. The support was wonderful, of course, but it was hard seeing my creative vision, and such a personal story, just become a headline about censorship.
I am extremely proud and excited about this physical edition of VILE: Exhumed. Working on it allowed me not only to revisit the feelings I had around the wrongful ban of the game last year, but also step back into Candy and Molly’s world, and give them one more moment.
Thank you for your continued support; the game is still free to play on VILEISBANNED.COM.
Yours,Molly,Yours,Candy,
Yours,
Cara Cadaver
VILE: Exhumed PC Physical Edition
Cara Cadaver and DreadXP are proud to be able to bring you a limited PC Physical Edition of VILE: Exhumed one year after the game was banned for release and subsequently launched on this website.
Featuring:
- 8 Page booklet designed by Cara Cadaver
- Archival Quality CD-ROM
- Hand wrapped packaging
- Individually numbered out of 100
- Hand Written Labels by Cara Cadaver
- Classic Jewel Case
All for $9.99 USD + tax and shipping. 50% of all proceeds will be donated Red Door Shelter.
(Final product may vary slightly from images shown)
Sign Up to be notified when it’s available for purchase!
Original Developer Statement (2025) :
VILE: Exhumed is a game about searching through an old computer, uncovering dark secrets, and experiencing the horrors of parasocial obsession and misogyny. There are references to sexual assault and violence against women, as well as depictions of gore – this was never a secret. This was the point.
It was intended to be released for sale on July 22, 2025 on Steam – the largest video game storefront in the world.
Instead, it was removed from Steam and banned for sale.
VILE: Exhumed was not banned for its use of gore, or its intense themes – themes that are sensitive but many players related to – it was wrongfully banned for “sexual content with depictions of real people.”
The game covers topics of assault, abuse, and entitlement, and uses a combination of FMV and practical effects to create images as horrifying as the themes. This was never a secret. There are a lot of intense visuals in VILE: Exhumed, but there is no uncensored nudity, no depictions of sex acts, and no pornography whatsoever – which is one of the justifications bad actors are using right now to censor games.
What this actually results in is taking power and storytelling away from women, other marginalized artists, and ultimately, from everyone.
This censorship of my work is a direct attack on creative expression and artistic freedom, and it will not stop with false accusations of sexual content.
They will come for anything that speaks more loudly than they do.
By giving the game away, for free, to whoever wants to play it, I am doing the same thing I set out to do when I started working on VILE: Exhumed, a game about sexual assault, male entitlement, and misogyny. Taking back my agency.
No one is allowed to dictate what kind of horror is acceptable, or what stories are allowed to be told.
VILE: Exhumed is now available to download for free as shareware under a CC BY-NC-ND license through a few different methods on this page. This felt like the best option to make the game available to as many people as possible. Trying to release on a different storefront would only open us up to the same problem we ran into with Steam.
Below, you will also find links to financially support the game. Since VILE: Exhumed was intended to be my first commercially released game, we wanted to provide a way for people to financially support it as well. DreadXP will be donating all of their portion of the profits, and I will be donating a portion of mine, totaling in 50% of the profits from the game being donated to Red Door Family Shelter, a Toronto based charity that focuses on helping families, refugees, and women who are escaping violence.
Every person at DreadXP has worked so hard to support me, and support VILE: Exhumed, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them. They encouraged my artistic freedom from the very start and through all the stress and heartbreak of my game being banned, they stood beside me – promising me they would do everything they could to get VILE: Exhumed out and into the world – somehow. The decision to distribute the game for free, to make sure as many people could play it as possible, was a collaborative effort that not only had DreadXP’s support, but their enthusiastic encouragement.
I also want to say thank you to anyone who has supported me, whether you played the original version of VILE on itch.io, or maybe even the games I worked on previously to this, followed me on social media and got curious about the game, or if you just heard about me moments before arriving at this website.
You are why I create things.
The one thing that hasn’t changed during all of the bullshit is my one piece of advice.
Please, now more than ever, make the weird thing. Throw up your yarn and create with it.
Thank you.
– Cara Cadaver
How You Can Help:
We understand many of are upset by the recent events and censorship of games and developers alike. To that end if you would like to donate to take a stand against censorship and to show your support for Cara Cadaver and her work you may use the button below. 50% of all profits will be donated to Red Door Shelter.
Download VILE: Exhumed
Archive.org:
Google Drive:
Direct Download:
Download VILE: Exhumed
Archive.org:
Google Drive:
Direct Download:
License:
This license enables users to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
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