All this makes us reflect on our future and the reality in which we live. For many people, video games are a salutary remedy that allows them to forget about their worries for a while. By the way, in the world of electronic entertainment we can find quite a lot of gloomy visions of the world or society, often extremely intriguing.
Mushrooms and people
Sometimes it takes very little for a disaster to happen. In The Last of Us, an inconspicuous mushroom that contributed to the pandemic devastating civilization was enough. Most of our species turned into mutant monsters, and the survivors had to adapt quickly to new, hostile realities. In this world, the aftermath of the plague has cast a sinister shadow over the prospects for the future.
Moreover, all cultural heritage is rapidly falling into oblivion. The inevitable time eagerly gnaws at any object or building with its teeth. Mother Nature is also not idle – by claiming its own, she encircles even the largest cities with lush greenery. A thought arises here – what do people who are deprived of the past feel, who at the same time have a poor chance for the future? The intriguing setting and the frightening setting in this story are infected only with the background – a pretext to illustrate the extremely fragile moral backbone of society.
The Last of Us shows how little is needed for a global catastrophe
Naughty Dog asks hard questions; above all: how will humanity behave in the new reality? How will they approach the generally established laws and rules they once followed? The writers have skillfully portrayed the intricate human nature in which the tendency to brutal violence is deeply and inextricably rooted. While playing, we have a chance to observe that – paradoxically – in a world dominated by beasts, man is the greatest monster.
Another dangerous fungus that we would not like to deal with is the one visible after the explosion of the atomic bomb. Contemporary armed conflicts threaten with such consequences, and as we know, “War never changes”. The iconic Fallout series , from which this well-known quote is derived, quite clearly shows the effects of the final conflict.
The suggestive image of post-apocalyptic America gives us the idea of ”what if …”. Of course, in its cynical, colored and retro-futuristic way. Using black humor, he exposes human desires and imperfections. It also shows that people do not learn from their mistakes, sooner or later returning to old habits that lead them straight to self-destruction.
The Fallout series clearly illustrates the effects of nuclear war
As the mentioned titles aptly illustrate – people can be, in a way, compared to mushrooms. Rather than exist in symbiosis, most poison others’ lives like toadstools or become selfish parasites, hungry for ever greater power. Only a few are willing to make great sacrifices to obtain a remedy for the benefit of all, like penicillin.
A new, wonderful world
Dystopias resulting from various wars and epidemics are a popular topic, already rolled over a hundred times in games, and you could sprinkle more examples, like from a magician’s sleeve. So let’s move on to a slightly more subtle and, in my opinion, more interesting look at the above topic.
Well, I mean the titles where we encounter an attempt to create an ideal world – when there are people who are driven by noble motives and ideas that are intended to make everyone’s life better. Unfortunately, as it usually happens, far-reaching, seemingly perfect plans end up in the head and everything ends in a fiasco – and dreams of utopia are drowning in dark depths, just like a certain city. We are talking, of course, about Rapture, known from BioShock .
Imagine a perfectly organized world in which everyone knows their place and follows clear rules, thanks to which everyone is happy – a real utopia. It looks beautiful, but the more we look at it, the more anxious we feel. We discover scratches on seemingly flawless diamonds. The majestic metropolis stripped of its outer garment turns out to be only a wobbly structure, which at some point collapses like a house of cards, turning into a caricature of what it originally tried to become.
The first visit to Rapture is an unforgettable experience
This is what Rapture’s short story looks like. This underwater city was meant to be an idyll for people who wanted to be separated from the rest of the world, living far from the cares and dangers of society. Nevertheless, ingrained human greed took over, and the promised land turned into a grotesque hell with no way out.
Total surveillance
In order to create a credible and coherent vision of an alternative reality, the creators reach out to the real world and extract from it the most disturbing, but also the most desirable aspects of the average person’s life. Then they skillfully combine them and add a hint of fantasy to add color to the story. Compulsion Games studio in We Happy Few took up the topic in an interesting way .
Although the game itself did not become a hit, its concept is original. You can feel the inspiration of The Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, as well as the works of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, who were masters in creating anti-utopian visions. The plot of the game is set in an alternative version of Great Britain in the 1960s, in the town of Wellington Wells. There is an illusory paradise there, and its inhabitants never leave their faces smiling.
By playing Happy Few, we can feel the skin of controlled and forced happy citizens
All this is due to the specific name Joy, whose regular use is compulsory, while disobedience is associated with severe punishment. The drug not only causes euphoria, but also increases susceptibility to influences and suggestions, which makes it easier to control the deluded citizens. Additional care over order is exercised by Uncle Jack (a kind of Big Brother), who constantly monitors the life of the entire community.
By the way, attempts to subjugate society (especially by corporations) along with permanent surveillance are daily bread for the cyberpunk genre. We will see this type of reality in titles like Syndicate or even the cult Deus Ex series . We will probably also get a taste of it in the long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 .
However, in this respect, Remember Me caught my attention . There, the possibility of manipulating memories was supposed to bring comfort to citizens and serve humanity. Ultimately, this technology turned out to be a dangerous tool, giving absolute power over the minds of unaware people. This is a fairly underrated production, but it is really worth checking out, if only for the narrative and plot layer.
Remember Me presents a world where manipulating memories becomes a reality
As you can see, game developers have been offering us really diverse visions of the world bathed in gray colors for years. Usually, humans put a hand to a catastrophe, but it happens that our species only takes the role of a victim. The subject in question is invariably electrifying, regardless of whether it is presented in a game, film or literature.
Each medium is only a tool for manifesting human fears and fears of ominous scenarios that a capricious fate could write for us. Most of the predictions are mere fantasies and mere speculations, but the disturbing number of events described is reflected in today’s world or is slowly starting to knock on our door. Let’s beware until it’s too late.
