Disco Elysium an unexpected hit in China thanks to a new translation patch

[Gyrobot]

Disco Elysium is an unexpected hit in China, thanks to a new translation

Steam continues to be an important loophole for developers both inside and outside of China.

www.pcgamer.com

Good to know that China didn't ban Disco Elysium because it was an honest look at the ideals of Communism and how Revachol was similar to China in the 19th century

 

[meiam]

It's probably just going under the radar, if it sales were of upward of, say, 10 millions, things would probably be different.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Disco Elysium probably went over Winnie the Pooh's head.

 

[Trunkage]

It doesn't really say nice things about anything. You can just ignore Communist Bad and just listen to Capitalism Bad

 

[Gyrobot]

Disco Elysium probably went over Winnie the Pooh's head.

Or maybe because it Revachol is a good analogy to China after their defeat in the Opium War..

Why would the Chinese government find it offensive? DE is honest in portraying class struggle and it visualizes the very nightmare which Chinese media keep reminding its citizens about. Such imagery is a staple of Chinese education. Pupils, students, officials are obliged to visit places of national disgrace and defeat, and Revachol fits this imagery perfectly.

China experienced severe trauma in the 19th century. "Look up at the sky, at the dark shapes of Coalition airships hanging there." They lived under such skies.

The Opium Wars were organized by Western countries in the name of freedom and democracy. Even today Western media are not ashamed to claim that it is an "autocratic political system fearful of Western ideas" to blame for the defeat in the Opium wars, no joke. Western powers turned China into Revachol. So of course, the Communist party is totally fine that the game reminds Chinese youth how it feels to live with no future - 欢迎来到实在界这个大荒漠.

DE portrays that even those who are on a favored side of capitalism are losers. Joyce is rich. But her daughters have no future of their own. Kids of rich parents escape playing into Martinaise pretending that they are underprivileged because this is the only place they feel real (that moment with pseudo-SKULLS reminded me a speech in Tamera 2011).

As for criticism, DE does not actually criticize communism. It correctly points at the disadvantages of a very specific thing - war communism. But even Lenin had already postulated that war communism was a desperate measure for desperate times, so there is nothing actually controversial about it. Actually, the Chinese might find the Mazov Revolution having more similarities with the Taiping Revolution than with 1949.

 

[fOx]

Eh, if officials caught wind of the wrong piece of dialogue, it would be out in no time flat. It probably helps that the game is fucking dense in terms of writing. That, coupled with its indie status, probably did it some favors. Too much work for too small a product. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear about it being banned in a few months, though.

 

[Dalisclock]

Eh, if officials caught wind of the wrong piece of dialogue, it would be out in no time flat. It probably helps that the game is fucking dense in terms of writing. That, coupled with its indie status, probably did it some favors. Too much work for too small a product. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear about it being banned in a few months, though.

I'm kinda shocked the Identity of the culprit isn't enough to raise red flags with them considering its a communist burn-out from the last war who has spent the last couple decades "fighting the war" whose both pathetic and a bit of a creep. It's not terribly flattering.

 

[Gyrobot]

I'm kinda shocked the Identity of the culprit isn't enough to raise red flags with them considering its a communist burn-out from the last war who has spent the last couple decades "fighting the war" whose both pathetic and a bit of a creep. It's not terribly flattering.

Again, China has no problem telling it's people about the national trauma. That the Deserter was someone who refused to make his last stand against the coalition. Or did you fail to read what I said earlier?

 

[Dalisclock]

Again, China has no problem telling it's people about the national trauma. That the Deserter was someone who refused to make his last stand against the coalition. Or did you fail to read what I said earlier?

I read it, I can just see how one could read it as an indictment as well. I mean, Xi apparently gets offended by Winnie the Pooh of all things so it's not hard to see how someone could latch onto that if they saw fit(and authoritarian governments/people are notoriously thin skinned about things they think are mocking them). I actually appreciate your take on it and it's something I hadn't considered.