nonperiodic reminder that the reason I excuse Spec Ops The Line from the standard criticism of "video game that tell you do bad thing and then get angry at you for doing bad thing" is because it uses that not to criticise the individual

but to make meta-commentary on the environment it finds itself, and you, in.

that's part of it, but it makes the effort of not just going "oh you're a terrible person for playing these games" and instead asks why we in the western cultural sphere like to make and play these games in the first place https://twitter.com/aapur/status/1313500565029244928

in other words it's not subversion/deconstruction for subversion's and deconstruction's sake

some people are like "yeah cause it holds you accountable/has consequences for your actions" but I'd argue that's still missing the point

Showing the unexpected consequences for your actions is just more subversion/deconstruction for its own sake, and it's not terribly difficult or profound to make a work that basically takes TVTropes pages and then does sick 180s on them

It doesn't simply go "you got a bunch of soldiers with incendiary artillery. But you also killed the civilians you were trying to save!! haha! do you feel bad now?! you didn't expect to feel bad for doing that didja!! didn't expect consequences!!"

Instead it does connect Walker's attempts to be a hero with the player's own heroism, and makes commentary that perhaps the reason we play these games is perhaps because our day to day lives are monotonous with few real victories, and so we turn to video games for escapism

Additionally this sense of heroism is also contextualised with its modern setting, suggesting that the reason we play shooters like it is because we the western sphere we live in continues to make efforts to find heroism and moral standing for its own military conquest

And THEN it makes the connection that not only is this kind of fervent desire to find vindication for our militarism not only bad for the people we continually bomb all the time, but also that it's also unhealthy (to understate) for us who are doing the bombing

Like, you can see the difference between a work that just wants to pull the rug out from under the player's feet for the sake of it, and a game that does so because it has something actually insightful to say, right?

Also that while you're not singularly at fault for the situation you find yourself in, you do bear some responsibility for the kind of media you consume (and thus the narratives you're willing to perpetuate in this feedback loop)

"To kill for yourself is murder. To kill for your government is heroic. To kill for entertainment is harmless."

AND ANOTHER THING: as @srgl509 points out the game does actually consciously damn itself because both Walker and the Player are working with the same limited information and it calls attention to that

In some sense The Line doesn't even pull the rug from under the feet and blame you, because it implies that you've been tricked and this isn't you acting as a free agent

The game acknowledges that Walker /is correct/ in saying that he wasn't "given any choice"

And then, of course, it becomes all the more pertinent when you take this "just following orders" thing and pair it with its commentary on American militarism and the soldiers who suffer and die under that system.

Just following orders.

In summary I find it troubling when fellow leftists are quick to pull the "it's just misery porn" argument for Specs Ops The Line, because it is so much more than its imitators and has a worldview that readily aligns with anti-imperialism if you look for it.

It's a game that, on its own, doesn't see the Player as a lone actor making the conscious independent choice to do video game killings, but sees the larger structure at play and the relationship between them, the shooter genre, and modern American culture.

It's a game that's deeply concerned with how American military culture is so pervasive that we make whole video games that tell stories about how American military power is morally good, how the use of force is always justifiable in the end, that the military always knows what

it's doing and what it's accomplishing because they always have complete assessment about their situation, and about how soldiers who fight for that system end up as lauded heroes who blew up the Death Star and not PTSD-ridden suicidal vets left to rot on the side of the road.

And it's a game that sees the link between militarism and the media, how the justifications we use to do in-game war crimes are the same justifications we find ourselves using to do real-world war crimes, so we can reassure ourselves that we are indeed heroes and not Walker.

It's a game that, upon telling you to flip the stone over, doesn't just say you're a terrible person, ha-ha, gotcha! But rather prompts you to question the society you live in where you've been indoctrinated to feel so gleeful and happy to flip stones in the first place.

And I don't think I've honestly ever played a game where its gameplay and commentary are so tightly interwoven and its commentary so comprehensive, laser-focused, and sharply delivered as much as it is in The Line.

Spec Ops: The Line (2012) was developed by Yager. 25 USD. on PC you can buy it on Steam, or DRM-free on GOG. Often for sale at a huge markdown.

And content warning for just about every kind of violence one can expect.