black myth: wukong contains leftist agitprop in way of it being so good it mogged the entire games industry that year
this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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Video Gaming is a reactionary and inherently bougie activity, it's a rare gem to find anything, Chinese or not, that is openly leftist.
That's quite a take.
You sound like someone who's ideological first, anaytical last with that kind of comments.
Far from it, I am fairly pragmatic when it comes to most things. I simply do not believe that looking for political or social validation from an entertainment medium that is made in large part by and for those who are most opposed to Socialism in general to be a worthwhile or rewarding endeavor. I like a fair few videogames myself, because they can be entertaining, not because they have perfect political themes, in the vast majority of cases they don't, and for the exceedingly few that do, I simply said it is a pleasant surprise.
That's a good take. Just take note tho, cultural products are products of their culture and society. Videogame are not inherently "bouggie", they just happen to be produced by these type of interests in our current time.
I'm very aware, and as such I assess them by how they exist today. When the time comes that the situation improves, I'll be the first to change my mind, as should everyone.
Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear, Oddworld, DE; plenty of options if you look hard enough in terms of "openly leftist and/or with leftist ideologues heavily represented in the game".
Is it bougie? I'd argue there is something to be said there, yeah. However, there is a significant chunk of people in the global south who have access to older games like that. A lot of Final Fantasy fans I've met online were from the Philippines, Chile, etc. So could also reasonably argue no but at the same time the part about it being almost inherently reactionary and bougie is true when you look at the origins of it and it's accessibility for online-gaming. Retro games is more situational.
I can't speak for every single videogame, I have not played all of them (of course), but I merely mean it in the sense that apart from maybe select independently developed titles, the vast majority of videogames are developed by large corporate entities with a profit motive first and foremost, and in turn the majority of games are specifically marketed towards those with disposable income from a certain social class. Videogames are an expensive medium, and on average the most expensive form of digital entertainment, with a high barrier of entry through hardware, internet and game costs themselves, then on top of that often also large time investments, microtransactions, subscription fees etc. It is not at all a coincidence that the "Gamer" sphere leans the way it does politically, dominated by primarily western, white, and young adult men, who have disproportionately more money and time to spend on such things than an equivalent in the global south. It sucks that it fosters such a culture, but I don't blame video game developers for catering to them, as it is literally their biggest market, and they are bound to cater to it.
No fun allowed
indeed
No
Fair point
not entirely sure what you mean by "left thoughts" (eg what all that encompasses/excludes) but I'll give it a shot
ngl most of chinese society isn't very political and this is reflected in video games. (I'd say cinema is kind of an exception but also there's established support structures esp. by the party for the film industry; even then it's more common for "left themed" movies to be about specific historical events or important people, than like, Communism In a Fictional/Fantasy/Scifi setting, of which I can't name a single one of those off the top of my head. IMO there's good reasons for this*, even regardless of publications & RFT bureaus.) More popular setting/thematics of CN-based video games are culture or [older, usually not modern] history, or a fantastical mix of both. Additionally many games particularly the smaller ones are Chinese-language only, no English translation available.
When I played Genshin I remember some cleverly crafted writing that was ambiguous enough for western (sinophobic and anticommunist/anti-antiimperialist) audience to interpret differently, particularly the dendro area sumeru. I don't play it myself but I have a friend who plays Honkai: Star Rail and who regularly gets excited about the more overt parallels to revolutionaries/history in the writing but I'm not sure if that's only the Chinese language version/if that gets dulled down in English translation. Also not sure if grinding and slogging thru a gacha game just for some plot here and there is your cuppa tea.
.* alternative history even if overtly fictional is generally discouraged. i think the reasons are obvious (just look at how western media spins 6-4)