Although games are avenues for escape, that’s not all they’re good for. While many gamers turn to shooters or open-world adventures as a way to decompress, others see the medium as a way to understand the world.
Video games are adept at conveying systems and shedding light on process. They can be good at eliciting empathy from players by immersing them in new subject matter. They can broaden our perspective. With politics, the coronavirus and Brexit in the news, I’ve picked out a few games that resonate with these front-page topics.
The most obvious one, of course, is “Plague Inc.,” a 2012 title about creating a disease that wipes out the human race. That sounds grim given the situation in China, but it also offers insights into how disease is spread through the world. It’s a game grounded in science — and one that has shot up in popularity in recent weeks — but the developers at Ndemic Creations warn that the game isn’t a scientific model. It’s not a tool that could predict the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Instead, “Plague Inc.” is a way to experiment and see how a pandemic potentially unfolds.The game is set up like a Rube Goldberg machine. Players pick a disease carrier, such as a bacteria, virus or fungus, each with its own special characteristics. There are even some based on popular movies. Gamers pick a country to start the infection, and they can see how the illness spreads. Location is important because poorer countries are more vulnerable than well-developed nations. Cold or arid weather, ports and airports and urban density also factor into the virulency.
As the disease, players control its evolution and they can upgrade its abilities over time. Again, this part of the game isn’t very realistic, but the lessons on how virus spreads are notable and may offer some insight into how nations are dealing with the coronavirus in real life. “Plague Inc.” is available on the PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Aside from health news, the other big topic is the presidential election. A new title called “Not for Broadcast” by NotGames touches on politics and the media by letting players control a news show. They take on the role of Alex Winston, the man in the control room picking the feeds, pictures and ads that viewers see as part of the “National Nightly News.” They take the job at a time when the Advance Party wins the election with the promise of taxing the rich and redistributing the wealth.
Players quickly find out that the agenda has an impact on their personal life, as well as the nation. “Not for Broadcast” is unique because it cleverly uses full-motion video as part of the gameplay. Because players control a live news feed, they can see what goes on behind the scenes of a news station. They craft together the show doing their best to switch cameras, bleep out rowdy guests and avoid signal interference.
What’s notable is that players can watch the show they crafted and look at the archive video to see footage that viewers didn’t see. It’s a peek behind the curtain. At the same time, players slowly realize how their decisions influence popular opinion and how that impacts their home life.
At times satirical, with outrageous sports and news subjects, “Not for Broadcast” shows how news can influence politics and vice versa. It’s up to players to find the right line and sharpen their news judgment to figure out how to give viewers the balanced and objective truth. “Not for Broadcast” is available for PC.
Meanwhile, “Not Tonight” takes the formula from the influential “Papers, Please” and applies it to the post-Brexit world. Players take on the role of an immigrant in the U.K. who has a job as a bouncer.
In this dystopia, they have to make enough money to remain in the country, which means working efficiently as a bouncer checking IDs. “Not Tonight” starts off simple at first, but becomes progressively harder as the player has to check more info on the identification cards, such as pictures, expiration dates, fake flags and insignias.
The pressure to make money and satisfy the boss by allowing the right people in creates a challenge. On top of that, players also run across outside drama that makes the job more difficult. The only issue I have with the game is that the Nintendo Switch control scheme is clumsy. The game is perhaps better on other platforms.
If players can get beyond that, they’ll encounter an intriguing political story that criticizes a post-Brexit U.K. “Not Tonight” is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
