Art is typically most influential when it is about something, and video games are no exception when it comes to this. However, the medium is young and does not always handle complex subjects with the grace they require. Worse still, potentially-provocative games often have their messages watered-down to appeal to a wider audience. Tales of Berseria is not that kind of game.

Like other games in its seriesTales of Berseria knows what it's about and shouts it loudly from the rooftops. The plot is an aggressive rejection of authoritarianism and a brutal (and surprisingly comprehensive) rebuttal to the ideas of traditionalist philosophers like Thomas Hobbes. Some might find developer Bandai Namco's message heavy-handed, perhaps even disagreeable, but the fearlessness with which it presents that message is something game developers should learn from.

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tales of berseria

Tales of Berseria is set in a ruined world literally called "Desolation." Its people live difficult lives in fear of a pandemic called "Daemonblight," which turns victims into bloodthirsty monsters. There's no cure for the sickness, and the only ones capable of slaying the beasts are the exorcists of the Abbey. As a result, the setting's ruling powers have all but bowed to their might; but the exorcists aren't as saintly as they appear. While they protect the regions under their control, they also stamp out indigenous cultures, force people to worship their god and enslave a race called "malakhim" to fuel their spiritual powers.

The concept of an evil religious authority is far from a new inspiration for fiction, but what makes Desolation interesting is how frighteningly Hobbesian it is. Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher who lived during his country's Civil War of the mid-17th century, and he went on to claim that the lives of humans in their natural state was, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." In his famous work Leviathan, Hobbes argued that people must be ruled by a powerful sovereign, one who controls everything from the army and laws to the church and language. Without this omnipotent authoritarian to shepherd the human herd, society would regress into chaos.

Hobbes was not an unbiased author. He was loyal to the monarchy and, as such, disapproved of the Parliamentarians who fought to limit its power. The notion that people could effectively govern themselves was anathema to Hobbes, and the exorcists represent the logical endpoint to his ideals. The Abbey and its de facto leader Artorius have all the power Hobbes desired in a sovereign and more, but Berseria does not present them as benevolent guardians. Rather, they are an oppressive, homogenous and utterly totalitarian force that stamps out native cultures and replaces them with an enforced devotion to their ideas of reason.

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tales of berseria

Partway through the game, Daemonblight is revealed to be a lie perpetuated by the Abbey to control the masses. In truth, daemons are not created from a sickness but by humans being overwhelmed by negative emotions, collectively referred to as "malevolence." Since people are complex emotional creatures, this puts them at constant risk of transforming. The ease at which entire communities can turn leads some characters to suggest people may truly be daemons, and what reason they can muster is all that keeps them in human form.

The Abbey argues that disparate cultures, practices and even feelings must be erased to save humanity from degenerating into daemons, creating a fantastical analogue to Hobbes' claim that the species must be kept in-check. To further underscore the comparisons, their patron god Innominat first appears as a ravenous leviathan. However, while their methods do keep the peace, they also agitate the same people they ostensibly protect. The Abbey's enforced homogeny frustrates minority cultures, and their belief that the few should sacrifice for the many unwittingly creates their greatest foes.

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These frustrations (and her own personal desire for revenge) motivate Berseria's heroine Velvet. She rejects not just the Abbey's ideals, but also the notion that their oppression should be met with passive acceptance. Through her, the game proposes that submission to an authority that wants people dead or imprisoned (regardless of the reason) is nothing but compliance. To Berseria, the only morally acceptable action is to resist such oppression -- by force if necessary. This argument can be uncomfortable to players who believe conflict is inherently wrong, but it's not without merit.

tales of berseria

History is full of revolutions that resulted in positive political changes. The English Civil War itself helped pave the way for the United Kingdom's current democracy, something that may not have happened had the nation been ruled by Hobbes' idealized despot. Berseria demonstrates that an almighty sovereign could enforce order, but they would inevitably doom themselves to face uprisings if their might were not balanced by benevolence. Velvet may be an angry, spiteful daemon with a frighteningly-high body count, but her rebellion is ultimately for the betterment of humanity.

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With such a confrontational message, it's clear where Berseria's ideological bias lies, and that's the point. The game has no interest in depicting freedom and totalitarianism as morally equivalent. However, that does not mean it's incapable of humanizing those who cling to the Abbey's traditions. The exorcists are depicted as wrong, but they are more misguided than explicitly evil. Even Artorius isn't a particularly malicious foe; he's just a broken man consumed by despair at how his people are ever-poised on oblivion's edge.

Tales of Berseria is, in many ways, a cautionary tale, a warning that the world inevitably changes and trying to hold onto an idealized, orderly past is a fool's errand. It's an uncomfortable reminder that violence sometimes has been the answer to the world's problems, though its writing is wise enough to differentiate this from senseless brutality.

Berseria also serves as a nuanced response to Hobbes' work that accepts his criticism of humanity as flawed and selfish, while rejecting his proposed solution of an enlightened tyrant as impossible to achieve in practice. The game knows it's a dark, difficult and divisive fantasy, but Tales of Berseria is honest about that identity and doesn't quench its flames to placate more skittish players. It may throw its audience into the fire, but that's only because it trusts they are mature enough to handle the heat.

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