Brexit is coming (maybe?). Although we are just three short months away and still have no definitive idea what shape it will take, the consequences of a no deal Brexit are becoming clearer.
Let's be honest, it looks frighteningly bleak. However, there are video games that have a very optimistic vision of what Britain will look like after Brexit.
Here are some surprising titles that portray the country's future with inspiring hope.
Devil May Cry 5
London is on fire. Martial law has been declared. The military has been deployed, decimated and dispersed. Red double-decker buses are burning on an old bridge whose name no one remembers. The crashed ambulance under the flickering screens of Piccadilly Circus is a depressing reminder of the broken and stripped remnants of the NHS.
The economy is bankrupt and small business owner Dante can't afford to flush shit down his own toilets. A young man named Nero lost his right arm in an accident at work. Despite this harrowing event, he recently received a letter in the mail declaring him fit for work. Niko, a freelance creative, lives and works in his van so he can do his two other jobs as a Deliveroo and Uber driver. Stress levels have risen so much that people's hair is going white. The remains of the city are populated by hostile thugs who use the worst words imaginable. Medicines are scarce. Food cannot be found. Weapons are everywhere.
Doom Eternal
Gammon. It follows you around. It screams at you. It will kill you. Furious gammon demons group together and besiege those they fear when they are alone. You find yourself in a twisted, inescapable hell, each day a grueling, endless battle. Some have already died, turning into groggy zombies, waiting for the sweet release of death.
All this happened because humans decided to put an old robot, incapable of expressing human emotions, in charge. This robot will go as far as anything to ensure its survival. All the people under the care of the robot died, the workers were hunted by demons in their workplace. A leader never has to give up power if there is nothing to give up. All that is left is to rip and tear.
Don't Starve Together
In a Brexit-filled Britain, ships were needed to promote food and supplies. After realising that the country was an island, the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, awarded a £13.8 million shipping contract to a startup company that does not and never has owned any ferries. Because of this, food supplies quickly ran out and people died. As people were dying, the country's tax revenue fell. Coupled with rising prices + new tariffs on gas and electricity imports, rising cost of living, as well as the falling value of sterling, Brexit Britain went dark. It's a hungry, hostile land. Bendy bananas? There are no bananas.
You have to grow your own food, make your own camp and make sure the lights are on at all times at night, otherwise some big guy called Charlie will turn up and smash your head with the kitchen sink.
We Happy Few
After the country was convinced to believe the big lie, things turned to shit. Most of the population now relies on psychogenic drugs to cope with the fact that the only food they can buy is rotten jam from export reserves and rats. Drug use is also enforced to ensure that the people who bought and sold this scam never face any repercussions. After all, if those responsible pay for it, those in power will lose their mandate. Anyone who speaks out against those who live in reality and deal with the reality of their awful quality of life is denounced as "downers" and met with open hostility.
Children blame their parents for their country becoming a hole in the ground. They have all gone to Europe and stopped communicating with each other. However, they are not immigrants - they are expats.
Metal Gear Solid 2
People didn't understand this game when it first came out. It touched on topics that people had no idea or opinion about before. Why are you talking about memes, Kojima? What the hell is a meme? We don't even have internet on our phones, and I'm ten years old.
Bombarded with information and captivated by the authority with which they spoke on countless complex topics, people just went along with it. All these new ideas and assured opinions filled them with confidence, this must be great. People were telling all their friends how amazing it was. Their friends also had no fucking idea what was going on, but they didn't want to look stupid, so they agreed with them. Time went by.
Years later, when people finally heard from those who actually understood the issues being discussed, the so-called "experts", people realized that it was actually pretty bad. Even stupidly bad. But people can't just change their minds. People can't raise their hands and admit that they only pretended to understand the position they once passionately and fervently held. So they went for the easier option, doubled down and committed themselves. They went so far as to ridicule the argument that it was actually good because it should be bad....
Their only pleasure is in laboriously explaining why this is the best thing that ever happened. If you don't agree with it, it's because you just don't get it and you should shut up. Shut your filthy mouth, you snowflake motherfucker.
Wolfenstein: The New Colossus
You wake up one morning in a world where racially motivated attacks have increased dramatically. The far right is on the march. Nazis are openly saluting in the streets. The government is systematically killing the sick and disabled. Buildings are burning, and no one is held accountable because of who it affects.
You no longer recognize your home and feel threatened in public places. You cling desperately to the few who hold the same values you thought everyone once shared. Your family has betrayed everything they taught you, proudly supporting those who hate and oppress.
This is no longer the country you once knew, is it? What has changed? Nothing has changed, the country you imagined was just your personal experience, only now you are forced to admit it's all ugly face. You wonder if it is possible to ever recover from this. Another part of you feels we don't deserve it.
