For most people, it’s understood that when a creator chooses to depict something ‘evil’ in a piece of fiction, especially when that something is also portrayed in-universe as explicitly ‘bad’, said creator is not endorsing a given behavior or ideology, but rather using it for narrative purposes, often to contrast the moral differences between a protagonist and their opposition.
However, the same apparently does not ring true for the video game industry’s ‘modern audience’, as like many games before it, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle will feature a very performative disclaimer assuring players that despite developer MachineGames’ decision to pit the iconic archaeologist against the historical Nazi regime, the studio themselves does not endorse it in any way, shape, or form.
The existence of said disclaimer was first unearthed courtesy of VideoGameChronicle‘s Jordan Middler, who came across MachineGames’ message during his recent play through of the game, as conducted during a recent MachineGames press day.
According to Middler, despite the game itself tasking players with physically fighting the many Nazis that Indy may come across in his adventure (as well as including a game mechanic that allows for the player to physically burn various Nazi-related propaganda posters), upon booting up The Great Circle, players are met with an assurance from Machine Games that “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a fictional story, inspired by historical events and characters. Names, characters, organizations, locations, and events are either imaginary or depicted in a fictionalized manner, not intended to disrespect any historical or cultural beliefs.”
Further, the statement – presumably penned in order to head-off the accusations of ‘fascist support’ that would surely have been leveled towards them by the more reactionary and terminally-online wing of the American left – presents itself when booting up The Great Circle – also explains to the more pearl clutching among the game’s audience that its story and contents “are not intended to and should not be construed in any way to condone, glorify, or endorse the beliefs, ideologies, events, actions, persons, or behavior of the Nazi and fascist regimes, nor any other regimes or to trivialize any war crimes, genocide, and other crimes against humanity.”
While MachineGames’ message is particularly egregious due to it only being included because some players are unable to separate fiction from reality, as noted above, it is far from the first such ‘content disclaimer’ to be included in a contemporary video game title.
From Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed warning players that the game’s original ‘sex change sidequest’ had been included without any edits, to the Tomb Raider I-III Collection apologizing for the series’ “harmful impact”, to Ubisoft apologizing for how “some characters and cultural references contain stereotypes” in Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition, the current era of video games has gone to great (but ultimately unnecessary) lengths just to keep themselves in the good graces of sociopolitical ‘watchdogs’.
All in all, while its inclusion is embarrassing for MachineGames (and truthfully, insulting to the vast, vast majority of players who would never have assumed such a link between ‘depicting Nazis as bad guys’ and ‘endorsing their ideology wholeheartedly’), it’s unlikely that the disclaimer will be removed before Indiana Jones and the Great Circle hits shelves on December 9th.