Recently, I was playing a game made by Russians called Atomic Heart.
I bought this game for several reasons:
1. Many people in it call me "comrade", even robots call me comrade, and in reality there are not so many people who call me comrade.
2, it has the taste of the Soviet Union, now there are few video games can make people feel the original Soviet aesthetics, from imposing sculptures, buildings, propaganda posters, to the magnificent floating city, are reminding us that it seems that there was such a proletarian "alliance" once real, and it seems that there was a "giant" who tried to change the world.
3. It is different from today's American style and Western European mainstream culture, it does not talk about those shit "political correctness", there are not so many messy black fat LGBT genderless people, the Bolsheviks also have the most simple aesthetics and pursuit of human beings, even robots have to plump milk and fat buttocks, even the refrigerator is full of commotion, this is called real "human liberation" and "freedom".
4. A group of people on the Internet boycotted the game, saying that every time you buy a copy of "Atomic Heart", a shuttle of bullets hit the "civilized world", "We call on (platforms) to restrict the distribution of this game in other countries." Because the game is 'toxic', potential user data collection and the possibility of transferring it to Russian third parties. In addition, the money (of players) to buy games could be used to wage war against Ukraine. Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Poniakov said. He claimed that Atomic Hearts was developed with funds from sanctioned Russian companies and banks, and that the game's developers did not "publicly condemn" the Russian-Ukrainian war - so he called on players to "ignore the game"... So I'm going to buy it.
5. When the protagonist walks on the street, he says: "Everyone is happy, it feels the same in China."
"Have you been"?
"Where haven't I been? Oh, China, it doesn't seem to have been."
"Speaking of which, facility 3826 does not seem to be far from our Chinese allies."
"yes, I like their energy....... Well, anyway, I heard it's a good place."
"Indeed"!
This dialogue, although it is in a joyful scene, but you can still feel a unique sad mood of Russians, the imaginary Soviet Union is majestic, the socialist camp is vibrant, but in reality, the Soviet Union has disappeared for more than 30 years, but their "Chinese allies" are still there, and there is still "that energy"... This passage translates into translation, in fact: "Hi, comrade, do you know where Leningrad and Stalingrad are, I can't find it on the map." "No, no more, we failed, the white bandits and capitalists rode on our heads again, if you are going to follow that red star, go to the east, cross the Dnieper, over the Ural Mountains, the end of the Siberian plain, where sparks still burn."
Although I haven't played a few chapters yet, I can see that the "Soviet-style aesthetic" is just a gimmick of this game, it is essentially a game similar to BioShock, and the tedious puzzle solving and bells and whistles of combat are its fun, after all, the game, that is, the big titty music, don't expect it to tell any tall politics and philosophy.
The game appears to be draped in Soviet skin and tells a story of Hollywood's personal heroism.
You can even see the game's "reflections" and mockery of the Soviet system, such as the "bureaucracy" shown by the train robot, and the dialogue is simply a "Soviet joke". The robot said a lot of nonsense - you don't have a ticket, so you can't take the bus, your ticket doesn't have the right name, so you can't take the train, your ticket expires, so you still can't take the train, the people at the station are dead, you can't sell tickets, you can't buy tickets, so you just can't get on the train, according to the law, only disabled people and pregnant women can get free tickets, I don't see that you are pregnant, please show a gynecologist's certificate, this is the USSR where everyone is equal, as a qualified Soviet citizen, you can't play with privileges ........" But I can see from your uniform that you are a law enforcement officer performing important tasks of the state, so you have the right to a free ride ".......
You can't say that this thing is wrong to reflect, there was indeed a lot of bureaucracy and institutional rigidity in the Soviet era, but today's Russia has been reflecting for decades, pointing at the corpse of the Soviet Union every day and making mockery, bullying the dead and not speaking, what can be done? Is Russia better off today than the USSR? Have countries that abandoned socialism and embraced capitalism solved the problems of corruption, embezzlement, privilege, bureaucracy, and institutional rigidity? So, this is the problem of the USSR after all? Or is it a human problem?
We must understand that Russia itself is based on the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union is a "former dynasty" that Russians cannot go back to, which can be respected and remembered, but it must not be "returned" ideologically. On the one hand, they miss the strength of the Soviet Union, and on the other hand, they have to deny the Soviet Union ideologically, which makes Russia's contemporary literary and artistic works particularly twisted.
The beautiful Russian film "Brest Fortress" not only praises the heroic greatness of the Red Army, but also discredits the decision-making mechanism of collectivism; Describing the Soviet Union as a completely rigid and inflexible bureaucracy, on the one hand, they miss the strength and sacrifice spirit of the Soviet Union, on the other hand, they smear the Soviet system and ideology, in fact, to be honest, only the Soviet Union brought the highest glory to the Russian nation; Without the Soviet Union, Russia would be a third-rate semi-feudal empire. In fact, they have forgotten the real spiritual core of the Soviet victory over fascism, not bravery, not something who is not afraid of sacrifice, but the communists and the Red Army know what they are fighting for.
I just want to ask rhetorically, there has been no Soviet Union for more than 30 years, is the Russian military good today?
A few years ago, there was also a movie, called "Killing Munich", which tells the story of Soviet basketball defeating the United States, the story is told in a heart-wrenching manner, but the spirit of the movie is still twisted, on the one hand, it praises the greatness of sports athletes in the Soviet era, and on the other hand, it reflects on the Soviet system that limits these athletes... In fact, without the socialist system of the time, the Soviet Union would not have been able to train such a group of athletes and such a collectivist team. Without the USSR for more than 30 years, is Russian sports strong today?
The Russian aesthetic is still online, but the spirit of "liberating all mankind" is gone.
Therefore, the grandeur of Soviet-style aesthetics is just a glimpse of light in the game, a historical projection of the ruins after the collapse of the building, a mirage of a generation, and a song "When is the Spring Flower and Autumn Moon" of the dead man, in terms of real courage and mind, it is not comparable to the Chinese science fiction movie "The Wandering Earth 2".
But I was still willing to pay for it, so I called it "comrade."