A violent PlayStation game featuring scenes of an abusive single father appearing to beat his pre-teen daughter to death has prompted calls for Australian stores to boycott it.
The objective of the game, which is scheduled for release in Australia next year, is for players to act as an android housemaid who must protect a girl from the violent outbursts of her father.
One scene shows Todd, the father, choking the housekeeper by the neck, and going up the stairs of his rundown home to beat his daughter with a belt.
"It's all over now, daddy isn't angry anymore," Todd says, after the beating, appearing to lay the lifeless body of young Alice on her bed.
The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) told Nine.com.au the game Detroit: Become Human was "very disturbing" and called on Australian stores to not stock it.
"Violence against women and children is not entertainment," NAPCAN deputy chief executive Leesa Waters said.
"From what I have seen in the trailer, this content is very disturbing.
"The content of this game is so horrific that it is likely to cause trauma for anyone watching, let alone anyone who has experienced family violence."
WARNING: Images below may be distressing
Waters said NAPCAN would be "advocating strongly" for serious expert consideration of the game, prior to any classification decisions being made in Australia.
"We also call on stores to take a responsible stand with regard to games such as this reaching their shelves," Waters said.
Detroit: Become Human players must take control of housemaid Kara and make a series of potentially lifesaving actions that can shield the child from abuse and death.
In another violent scene from the game, Todd screams at Kara: "She [Alice] is mine. I do what I want with her."
Todd then hits Kara in the face, as his daughter looks on.
Sony Australia confirmed to Nine the game, styled as an exclusive neo-noir thriller, would be released locally in Autumn. It has yet to be given a classification rating.
However, the spokesperson did not comment on whether the game glamorised and trivialised violence and domestic abuse.
Games such as Detroit: Become Human normalised family violence into amusement, according to Dr Glenn Cupit, a spokesman for Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM).
"I am worried that kids are being brought up on a diet of entertainment violence," Cupit, a retired child psychologist, said.
"Games are much worse than films because they are immersive and involve young people in the act of violence, rather than sitting back passively and watching it."
On average, at least one Australian woman a week is killed by a partner or former partner, according to research in Australia.
Michael Flood, an associate professor at the Queensland University of Technology, said there was good evidence that violent video games breed violence.
"Playing a game like [Detroit: Become Human] won't by itself turn an individual into a daughter-killer but it does feed into our cultural support for tolerance of violence," Flood said.
"If you play video games where violence is important to the game, and the violence is realistic, you are more likely to tolerate that violence in real life.
"You will also have less empathy for victims of that kind of violence."
Flood said extensive research in this area had showed that exposure to violent media and content shaped empathy.
Detroit: Become Human was developed by gaming company Quantic Dream, and took creator David Cage more than two years to script and produce.
More than 200 real life actors were cast in the game, with the performance capture of the actors taking 324 days to complete.
