Satire is a powerful force. When used properly, it can shed light on a touchy subject and address a societal issue that's often ignored. However, it's a tricky thing to pull off because, as the saying goes, it requires "a clarity of purpose and target lest it be mistaken for and contribute to that which it intends to criticize." On the other hand, if it's too didactic and heavy-handed, the message will fall on bored, deaf ears.

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Every art form has used satire, and video games are no exception. The ultimate test as to whether these electronic forms of entertainment can be considered art is their ability to convey ideas through their unique methods.

10 Bioshock Satirizes Utopia And Games That Promise Narrative Choice

The Famous 'Would You Kindly?' Wall From Bioshock game

The ethos of Rapture was a society where the best and the brightest would not have to live for the sake of someone else. Both the underwater city and the game were touted for providing choices. Ultimately, the idea of utopia is proven to be incompatible with denizens who exercise free will.

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Ironically, Jack, the harbinger of Andrew Ryan's demise and the player-controlled character, is the ideal citizen of Rapture, as he's a man who cannot choose. The phrase, "Would you kindly" precedes every request given to him and triggers the mind control that forces him to comply with Atlas' — and by extension the game's — every command.

9 This War of Mine Puts A Focus On What Military Shooters Gloss Over

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War is politics with bloodshed, and unfortunately, it's the innocent civilians in the middle who suffer the most. There is a glut of military-themed shooters that put players in the role of a hardened soldier who is armed to the teeth, but they'll more often than not gloss over those who get caught in the crossfire.

This War of Mine shifts the focus on those aforementioned people and their attempts to survive by gathering resources, assisting other survivors, and patching up wounds. Each character has one or two traits that can either help or exacerbate the problems surrounding them.

8 The Beginner's Guide Ponders Why people Create

The Beginners Guide

In a setup reminiscent of Don Hertzfeldt's short film Rejected, The Beginner's Guide tasks players with playing several unfinished games designed by a man named Coda. The narrator introduces the games, walks players through them, and speculates on the artistic intent behind each of them.

As the games become progressively more nihilistic, the narrator attempts to show Coda that his work is loved, causing a rift in their friendship. It uses the interactive medium of gaming to ponder why artists create what they create and make the player an integral part of the narrator and Coda's story.

7 Psychonauts 1 & 2 Give Players A Means To Deal With Their Trauma

Psychonauts 2 Panic Attack Cropped

In many forms of fiction, especially video games, there is an unfortunate tendency to "other" neurodivergent people or those who struggle with mental illness. There are far too many games where the plot rationalizes the use of lethal force against enemies with the excuse that they're just crazy.

Both Tim Schafer's Psychonauts games avoid this pitfall as no one in the series is regarded as irredeemable. Psychonauts 2, in particular, never shames its characters for their trauma and provides players with a means to confront their inner struggles in a way that's lighthearted and fun.

6 The Oddworld Games Shed A Darkly Comedic Light On Consumerism

Abe from Abe's Oddysey looking up in desert

The Oddworld series puts players in the role of a slave named Abe who is tasked with rescuing his kind from an industrial race known as the glukkons. The game's anti-consumerist and pro-environmentalist messages avoid coming across as heavy-handed with the use of dark satire and vaudevillian physical comedy.

It also helps that Abe and his subjugated brethren aren't just generic goodie-two-shoes. They're just as willing to turn a blind eye to the dubious ethics behind the products they consume and the unjust systems that drive other species to extinction until they're the ones who are next on the menu.

5 Papo & Yo Uses Its Mechanics To Make Players Understand Abuse

Papo & Yo Cropped

Papo & Yo gives its creator and the players a means to deal with the pain and abuse he suffered at the hands of his alcoholic father. The game puts players in control of a young boy who solves puzzles with the help of a beast. Though sometimes docile and even affectionate, the beast becomes out of control whenever he consumes a frog, and the boy must avoid him.

Through the game mechanics, players experience what it's like to live with someone who you love and rely upon, but causes lots of misfortune and is a dangerous presence to everyone around them.

4 Spec Ops The Line Asks If Players Feel Like A Hero Yet

Spec Ops The Line

Spec Ops The Line is a scathing critique of military-themed shooters and the way they sensationalize war to provide a power fantasy. Critics of the game have countered that the main campaign unfairly shames players for actions that are required to progress the story, but savvy players will notice that the developers are constantly giving them hints to stop.

As the game progresses, everything that Walker and his comrades do just make things worse and worse. Eventually, the loading screens go from giving standard gameplay tips to asking players if they "feel like a hero yet?"

3 Fallout Shows That War Never Changes

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The Fallout series has players create their own custom character with their own strengths, weaknesses, and special skills and tasks them with surviving a nuclear-ravaged wasteland. With the apocalypse comes ideas on how to start over, with many different factions following their own philosophy. Just like the real world, these ideologies are at odds with each other, resulting in a lot of conflict.

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Though not everyone in the game agrees on the catalyst of nuclear death, the game maintains the stance that war and its mindless drive to accumulate resources and demonstrate power is the ultimate reason for humanity's folly.

2 Mother 3 Shows The Cruelty Of Man While Preaching Kindness

Mother 3 Lucas Sunflowers

Nintendo has yet to grant Mother 3 an official Western release despite years of fan demands. Detractors counter that the game's heavy themes would make it near impossible to produce an official English version. The game touches on very taboo topics, especially for a Nintendo title, and veers into what can be interpreted as anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist messages.

The antagonists in the game ravage the land of its natural beauty, perform bizarre experiments on the wildlife, and introduce the concept of currency to a town where everyone is content to just look out for one another. All of this is brilliantly juxtaposed with the series' trademark humor and pathos.

1 Papers, Please Forces Players To Take Part In Systemic Corruption

Papers Please PC Gameplay Jorji

Papers, Please puts players in the role of an immigration officer who is tasked with checking the documentation of those who wish to cross the checkpoint. Unfortunately, there are many sympathetic characters who lack the proper paperwork, and the player can be fined or even terminated for allowing them passage.

Many books, movies, and TV shows have presented viewers with people who take part in unjust systems and slowly lose their morals, but only the medium of gaming could thrust those ethical dilemmas onto the observer. Papers, Please tells a compelling story of bureaucracy and political corruption that couldn't be done justice in a non-interactive medium.

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