Germany seems to be easing up a bit on their video game ratings as of late. Today, classic demon busting shooters Doom and Doom 2 have been reevaluated and have been given USK16+ ratings, which will make them freely available at retail.

Previously, both games had been indexed by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien if you’re the German speaking kind, or BPjM for short), which essentially put the same restrictions on them as pornographic material. Bethesda, who acquired the original developer of the games, id Software, brought up the appeals after the ten year mark had passed for the respective titles, with obvious success. Why they had to wait ten years to do so, I have no clue, but at least Germany can now have free access to some classic FPS action.

This is actually the second surprise decision coming out of them since they gave Gears of War 3 an 18+ rating, despite the fact that the first two games were indexed. Yeah, it’s as silly as it sounds. Microsoft is still working on those cases.