Disco Elysium has really caught my eye as a game I might end up buying, as it swept the BAFTA awards, which is pretty much the only legitimate game awards that still remain (at least as of 2019). However, my eyebrow was raised as I read about how the creators are from Estonia, which is a post-soviet country, from what I’ve read up on. This discussion on Reddit and this dialogue chain from the game are enough for enough for one to calmly call this a “Marxist game”.
Will I still buy it? Probably. In my eyes, this game is a literal “leftist game”, not the “SJW” pandering that we see from the likes of The Last of Us 2 and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Thoughts? Any are welcome :)
IN DE marxism is generally portrayed as this sort of nostalgic and sad attempted revolution that couldn't occur because of outside forces bringing it down. Obviously stupid, but on the other hand not for me a game ender because the characterizations outside of the politics can be good and the writers are generally not shoving things down your throat. (for instance, they wrote a very relatable and charming old nationalist/monarchist type character that would be impossible for a sjw propagandist to write).
Most of the politics generally in DE are absurd charactures of reality, which made it hard for me to take any of them very seriously, which was a good thing. If you pick some reasonable conservative / nationalist answers the game will put points in the fascist category which is annoying. But the political ideologies are presented in such a silly and over-the-top way that it didn't end up mattering too much to me.
Sure, you could call it a lefitst game, but the core of the game (the main character's internal journey) is honest, well-written, and has nothing or little to do with politics.
Very interesting. The Reddit post I linked had a comment which mentioned how the perspective that DE offers is something that could only come from Estonia, since it was a more or less successful post-soviet country. I imagine the game’s handling of politics becomes much more bearable and fascinating when you consider who the creators are.
Personally, the game brings up very legitimate points about how capitalism has flaws, particularly in how it promotes a very hedonistic perspective toward happiness and fulfillment. However, as Winston Churchill said, capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others. History has made this very apparent.