This review contains spoilers
The capitalist machine is an unforgiving beast. It leaves us out to die when we are no longer useful, strips us of who we are, and surveils us at all times to ensure our accessory in all of its moves. It is the automaton that endlessly destroys planet after planet, all in the name of growing itself. When the last star dies, capital will be finally satisfied.
Yet, Signalis seems to disagree with me. It seems to point the finger at leftists instead.
Many have spoken about Signalis as if it portrays some anti-fascist narrative, and sure, in some unspoken general sense it does. But all of its iconography is extremely reminiscent of Red Scare-era Cold War propaganda - the game is clearly set in a hypothetical future East Germany. While I don't think East Germany is necessarily worthy of praise beyond its attempts (as most communist projects, unfortunately), the equation of an attempt at revolution as something fascist is utterly absurd to me.
A real tone-setter for the rest of the game hits you right in the face at the beginning: a poster that says that you have a limited inventory size because no private property or something. Are you fucking kidding me?
This is not some incisive and informed critique of the ways leftists have failed in the past. It's just vapid.
Yet, Signalis seems to disagree with me. It seems to point the finger at leftists instead.
Many have spoken about Signalis as if it portrays some anti-fascist narrative, and sure, in some unspoken general sense it does. But all of its iconography is extremely reminiscent of Red Scare-era Cold War propaganda - the game is clearly set in a hypothetical future East Germany. While I don't think East Germany is necessarily worthy of praise beyond its attempts (as most communist projects, unfortunately), the equation of an attempt at revolution as something fascist is utterly absurd to me.
A real tone-setter for the rest of the game hits you right in the face at the beginning: a poster that says that you have a limited inventory size because no private property or something. Are you fucking kidding me?
This is not some incisive and informed critique of the ways leftists have failed in the past. It's just vapid.
5 Comments
No Private Property is when I can't put all my toothbrushes I own in a large backpack (the state owns large backpacks).
it's like george georwell warned us, big brother is when 5 toothbrush per bag
My father and grandparents legally emigrated from east germany. Having to fit all the personal property they wanted to keep into a single suitcase per person is a painful experience they still vividly remember almost 35 years later.
But legal emigration was rare and also I don't think the game wants to be about legal emigration
But legal emigration was rare and also I don't think the game wants to be about legal emigration
It'd be one thing if the game were actually making nuanced statements about that bur the fact that it didn't even know the difference between private and personal property is one of the many reasons I don't trust that intention
i'm not gonna defend the devs' particular use of ddr iconography or political language because it's clear to me this is not what signalis wants to be about at all, and it seems mostly subservient to aesthetics (the really pertinent angle on this, imo, is the idea of surveillance, all the cameras in every room, the radio stuff, etc.) my sense is that it casts too wide a net of what it wants to be about, and ends up being not too indepth about any of these things.
that said, i'm actually happy to see a record of the ddr's existence in a game at all, even if it doesn't exactly align with my sensibilities. i know this is a low bar to have, but outside of mapgames set in the correct period, where else have you seen its existence referenced at all? i can think of dragonfall, if that. a lot of the way through this i was thinking, "damn, wouldn't it be cool if the ddr HAD gone to space though" and this idea of a future that never came to pass is imo something suprisingly apposite to the themes of grief and withering away this is shot through.
that said, i'm actually happy to see a record of the ddr's existence in a game at all, even if it doesn't exactly align with my sensibilities. i know this is a low bar to have, but outside of mapgames set in the correct period, where else have you seen its existence referenced at all? i can think of dragonfall, if that. a lot of the way through this i was thinking, "damn, wouldn't it be cool if the ddr HAD gone to space though" and this idea of a future that never came to pass is imo something suprisingly apposite to the themes of grief and withering away this is shot through.
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Erato_Heti
1 year ago