Propaganda is a concept that has been controversially utilized throughout history to try and control the minds of large groups of people. However, many game developers have illustrated this concept in their work by trying to teach about propaganda, rather than encourage it, most notably in some of the best dystopian and horror titles around.
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With their platform and talents, developers can depict propaganda in their games to warn players about how the tool can reshape their thoughts and feelings. This has already been done numerous times in gaming history, such as with these next games, but it should continue to be done as well.
Beholder
No More Propaganda
Beholder
- Released
- November 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Beholder is about a landlord tasked by a totalitarian state government to spy on their tenants and report any behavior that goes against the State's laws. This sci-fi adventure game sows doubt into the player's mind about whether they should continue to follow the State's commands, or start to push back.
The government in Beholder enforces many strict laws and encourages the surveillance of its citizens to ensure they are obeying the regime. There are even plenty of propaganda posters and machines to create propaganda found within the game. Ultimately, Beholder highlights that blindly following orders can affect one's empathy, humanity, and morality.
Road 96
On The Road To Freedom
Road 96
- Released
- August 16, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes, Drug Reference, Violence, Language, Use of Alcohol And Tobacco
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
What at first appears to be nothing more than a game about a road trip, Road 96 offers players a surprise. The characters in the game are trying to flee the Regime that rules Petria, an authoritarian country. The player must make many important narrative choices in order to cross the border and eran their freedom.
A frequent reality players will face in Road 96 is that the government controls Petria's media. There is only one channel through which the president, Henry Tyrak, delivers and funds propaganda-filled messages and manipulates the voting polls of the current election to always be in his favor. Meanwhile, resistance is growing against Tyrak as citizens become increasingly outraged by his extreme policies. This shows just how dangerous it can be for the media to be controlled by a government willing to skew the truth for its own gain.
Bad News
An Educational Warning
- Developer: DROG, University of Cambridge
- Release Date: February 19, 2018
- Platform: Web Browser
- Genres: Educational
Bad News is a free browser game that allows the player to create their own fake news to gain followers and fool people into believing their most absurd stories. The game is educational and meant to teach the skills that unreliable journalists, social media users, and news organizations use to produce fake news so that players can recognize them in the real world.
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Taking an educational stance, the developers designed Bad News to be an innoculation against propaganda on social media and news platforms. By giving away the strategies of those who weaponize fake news as propaganda, the creators are giving a hands-on lesson for gamers with vast opportunities for application.
Orwell: Keeping An Eye On You
Play As Big Brother
Orwell: Keeping An Eye On You
- Released
- October 26, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Indie, Simulation
After passing a law that allows them to use surveillance systems for their citizens' safety, The Party authorizes the player to use this security system, named "Orwell," to look into some concerning events and suspicious citizens.
Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You is an adventure game that feels realistic in its use of technology and web interfaces, both of which are used to spread misinformation. The surveillance system is somewhat unreliable, making it easy for the player to see faulty perspectives that form their biased report to the higher-ups in government. Orwell is a game that warns the player of how unchecked sources and footage can lead to the spread of misinformation to fit one agenda instead of providing the truth.
BioShock Infinite
Don't Trust The Billboards
BioShock Infinite
- Released
- March 26, 2013
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Mild Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Irrational Games
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
Booker DeWitt, a man with debts to pay, and Elizabeth, a powerful young woman, must escape the floating city of Columbia after discovering some of the dark truths about its leader in BioShock Infinite. They also uncover some of the racist and bizarre religious practices and ideologies of the city, exposing that not everything is peachy keen above the clouds.
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Columbia is filled with all kinds of billboards, posters, slogans, and media campaigns to slander non-white citizens of the city and foreigners. The leaders of the city attempt to dehumanize and ostracize these groups while building up their founder and leader, Zachary Comstock, as a divine prophet. The game makes it clear that propaganda can be used to turn people of different backgrounds against each other, a dangerously obvious message to deliver.
Not For Broadcast
Censor The Truth
Not For Broadcast
- Released
- December 11, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature: Violence, Blood, Sexual Themes, Nudity, Strong Language, Crude Humor
- Genre(s)
- Indie, Adventure, Simulation
An easy-to-play simulation game, Not For Broadcast places the player in a broadcast studio run by the local authoritarian government, where they serve as the studio's director. It's up to the player to decide which of the two political groups looks better, and whose messaging to air, as an election looms over the fictional nation.
Not For Broadcast emphasizes the dangers of censorship and biased news sources to warn players about propaganda. Each decision that the player makes drastically affects the results of the story and which political party comes out on top, illustrating just how important the role that the media has in influencing people.
This War Of Mine
The Last Broadcast DLC Especially Warns About Propaganda
This War of Mine: Final Cut
- Released
- May 10, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To War Of Mine
- Genre(s)
- Survival
As war rages on, a group of survivors must endure these difficult times in a crumbling safe house using whatever resources they can scavenge or steal. This survival game set in the city of Pogoren offers a unique take on war by focusing on the innocent civilians who can't properly defend themselves, but are trapped in the conflict nonetheless.
While the base game doesn't touch on propaganda, The Last Broadcast DLC makes the concept its major theme. In this DLC, the main character, Esma, collects information about the war for her husband, Malik, to broadcast. The player is given a difficult choice to either lie about some of the details that take place or tell the truth, with grave consequences in store either way. In addition, whichever choice the player makes, it serves as propaganda for one side of the war. It goes to show that propaganda of all kinds leads to severe consequences, especially in times of war.
We Become What We Behold
Media Can Be A Dangerous Tool
- Developer: Nicky Case
- Release Date: October 18, 2016
- Platforms: Windows, Mac
- Genres: Casual, Indie
In one of the best games about journalism, We Become What We Behold stars a news photographer capturing the events of the surrounding society. However, the media outlet where they work craves to portray the violence and animosity between two groups of people: the circles and the squares. As photos and headlines increase in intensity, so does the hatred and heinous acts perpetrated between the two groups.
We Become What We Behold shows gamers that the media has the power to expose them to messages and influence their thoughts and feelings about situations, places, individuals, and groups of people. The more media with a biased message that one consumes, the more likely they are to apply that bias to their worldview.
We Happy Few
Remember To Take Your Pills
We Happy Few
- Released
- August 10, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs and Alcohol, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Stealth
In a visually beautiful dystopian world where the Allies lost World War 2, We Happy Few depicts a British city overrun with a drug called "Joy." This drug offers its users bliss and happiness, but robs them of their memories.
While joy as a concept is a great thing, it requires moderation. The officials of Wellington Wells enforce constant propaganda that Joy is better than the grim truth of the world, and force its citizens to consume a steady supply. With the masses happier to be ignorant of reality, it means the game's government has an easier time committing other atrocities and keeping the citizens under their control. It's up to the player, who has stopped taking their Joy, to try and break the people free of their stupor.
Papers, Please
Glory To Arstotzka!
Papers, Please
- Released
- August 8, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Violence, Blood, Sexual Themes, Nudity, Drug Reference, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Simulation
Arstotzka is one of many countries gripped by political tensions with numerous bordering territories. The main character of Papers, Please is an immigration inspector who must follow instructions from their government and use the resources at their disposal to determine who can and cannot cross the border.
Every so often, the player will receive directions from Arstotzka's government that change the parameters for who is allowed into the country, often adding further screening processes that they must keep track of, lest they have their daily wages docked. This shifts the narrative about other countries and their citizens and creates a truth that isn't true; it's what the Arstotzkan government decrees is truth.
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