Silent Hill: Homecoming has been denied a rating by Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) on the grounds of containing excessive violence.

The ruling, which was spotted by Screen Play, means that the sixth title in Konami’s survival horror series can’t be released in Australia in its current form.

According to Edge’s latest preview of the title, Homecoming introduces to the series a “new focus on violence” that sees “finishers involving ramming pipes through enemies’ heads and stomping on their faces to pull them out, tearing their entrails loose with an axe, or simply some good old-fashioned bludgeoning.”

The OFLC is notoriously strict when it comes to games – while the Australian federal government said earlier this year that it is considering introducing an R18+ classification for games, no rating higher than 15+ currently exists for the medium, despite the fact that movies and magazines can receive adult classification.

Silent Hill: Homecoming becomes the fourth game to be denied a classification by the OFLC in 2008. Earlier this year the body also refused to rate Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, Dark Sector and Fallout 3, although the latter two games were cleared for release after modified versions were submitted for classification.

Homecoming is due for release on PS3 and Xbox 360 in the US next week, followed by a European launch in November, the same month the Australian version was due to hit stores.