Games where the Real Villain was Capitalism All Along

This list is mostly satire but also true so everything you try to say about it is wrong

Banjo music and blue collar struggle.
The villain in Robots is a corporate stooge hell bent on "upgrading" the lower class to a more homogenized, gentrified standard of living.
The player character inherits a farm in Stardew Valley from their Grandfather and goes there to escape the monotony of their corporate job. Jojamart/Jojacorp is also an omnipresent force of gentrification.
Authoritarianism and modern, gentrified architecture.
See: Senator Armstrong.
The pharmaceutical corporation responsible for creating Zombrex, the zombiefying cure-all, is behind a massive cover-up conspiracy to cause another outbreak in Fortune City in an attempt to raise Zombrex sales.
I mean, come on.
Mars is literally being mined for a valuable power source. If that isn't an allegory for oil conflicts in the Middle East, I don't know what is.
The UAC is a corporation trying to amicably bring about the apocalypse by aiding and abetting the Hell Priests in their quest to destroy and demonize Earth.
Mario is a wealth hoarding monster in this supposedly "fun" adventure, "saving" the working Toads by simply subjugating them to further wage slavery.
"Run this theme park impeccably or go bankrupt."
The Devil imprisons the player character and their band in hell in accordance with their coercive record label contract, indicative of how musicians are taken advantage of by major record labels.
The town Ghost lives in is slowly sinking into tar (indicative of the ultimate lack of options and eradication of freedom under total capitalism), while an oppressive corporation in the midst of a labor strike towers above the rest of the city with no regard for any of the people below them.
SPOILERS:

At the end of the game, a free thinker introduces his radical ideas into a subjugated collective that then violently seeks freedom from captivity against its captors, indicative of a people's/worker's revolution.
Manny Calavera uncovers a plot to launder false passes to reincarnation in the afterlife, essentially racketeering the Land of the Dead.
Legends compete in televised bloodsport for glory and money.
Handsome Jack is the CEO and President of Hyperion, an omnipresent and oppressive corporation.
See: President Business.
The Devil that coerces Cuphead and his brother Mugman runs a casino, one of the most blatantly capitalist establishments in existence.
The Fables allow the Crooked Man to take advantage of those in the lower class because he's merely too rich and philanthropic for anyone to say otherwise. The bureaucracy of the official Fable government (in addition to its rampant corruption) also drives the lower class Fables to the Crooked Man for help.
The ultimate antagonist is a rich, cocky actor who hires a hitman to execute an elaborate yet ultimately petty murder plot, expecting a full acquittal in a trial, indicative of how the wealth hoarding ruling class see the legal system as their playground.

2 Comments


1 year ago

Oh, I KNOW there has to be a lot more than this. I should dig deep and find some more obscure ones (and not including ones where buying the game itself is the real villainous aspect, like shovelware or titles designed to trick elderly grandparents into buying the wrong game...).
Oh yeah for sure, I just made this so long ago I got bored and gave up lol


Last updated: