Never liked this solution, i always thought it was a cheapening cop out even in Call of Duty, when they did it.
I understand that it can have an impact on some people, and that's why i think it's fine to clearly signal when the content it's there before hand, but narratively speaking, either you think a scene as controversial is necessary to the narrative, or you think it's not and you probably shouldn't include it in the first place.
For example, by the same token, you couldn't have Irreversible work without its shocking rape scene, so you should just avoid the movie altogether, instead of watching a cut version of it that doesn't make any sense, if you can't stomach that particular (pivotal) scene for whatever reason.
That said, videogames contrary to movies, also understandably hold a double nature as both narrative art pieces as well as toys to play with.
You can play Hotline Miami skipping all the dialogue while listening to a Podcast just to get the top score, you can't really get any value doing the same with a movie.
So in that sense, it sort of make sense, i guess? Not that HM is that unique, once you remove the narrative and stylistic subtext though.
I'm not saying they're cowards or anything like that, i'm sure they're making it with the wellbeing of their fans in mind, which is cool, but it does make me wonder how important the scene is, if it can be removed and still have the full experience.
