Meaning of the Game

[czech]

I am super interested to know the meaning of this game, if it is actually actively anti-capitalist, or if it’s more of just a side note, or if it even comments on society at all rather than the advancement of technology etc. I am not necessarily for or against capitalism because I am not intelligent but interested regardless

[Marmarmar34]

My guess is it's a commentary on how companies value human lives. And the world is basically a capitalist hellhole where death is just a $500 investment.

[Insect]

The game says many things about many things. I dislike when people try to boil this game down to one statement its making honestly. There are definite themes but not every piece of media can be boiled down to one statement/political position.

[Eisen]

Back to your Vaush containment zone. Cruelty Squad is highly reactionary - if you have missed that, you are of low political IQ (as suspected from a Vaush/ChapoTrapHouse individual)

[Marmarmar34]

Originally posted by Eisen:

Back to your Vaush containment zone. Cruelty Squad is highly reactionary - if you have missed that, you are of low political IQ (as suspected from a Vaush/ChapoTrapHouse individual)

peensive dude, my feelings are hurt and now I have to groom children on the internet

[Konrad]

I found this brilliant comment on Youtube explaining the meaning of this game, I take no credit whatsoever for the following statement:

"The Georges Bataille quote at the end is the key to understanding the rest of the game:

It is a quote from his book "The Accursed Share" which describes the eponymous philosophy that essentially states if a system (e.g. an organism, economy, celestial body etc.) is unable to absorb excess energy (energy being wealth, life force, atomic mass etc. depending on context) for its own growth, that energy will inevitably be expended in a wasteful and/or catastrophic manner

The world of Cruelty Squad is a world without DEATH, as people have convenient access to resurrection technology. This resulted in an social-economy where "the value of life is negative" for it has an overabundance of said LIFE. This is why so many NPCs in the game are obsessed with human sacrifice. They want to, in vain, restore the value/meaning of LIFE by restoring its (economic) scarcity. This "overabundance of life" manifests itself into the fleshy augmentations, filth ridden landscape, and literal flesh caves popping up all over the earth as well as the abundance of mutant creatures made from recycled humans (who can't die properly). On multiple occasions they have established that the enemies/targets literally come back to life every time you replay a level and you are just killing them over and over again to annoy/punish them. Because the value of life is negative, so too is the wealth people accumulate, hence why so many targets (like the infamous chunkopops guy) just waste their money on stupid ♥♥♥♥, and the architecture and wall textures just stopped giving a ♥♥♥♥

The ending was essentially you confronting the "cradle of LIFE" (the giant orb in the final level) which essentially was the universal DEATH blocker responsible for the messed up sewage-infused garbage world you inhabit, the protag becomes a "being of pure grace" and reduces that universe down to an onion, and begins peeling it until it is totally undone, recreating a new universe where people are once again able to die (hence the "Golden Age" text). Notice how the protag and the people behind him in the cutscene are walking towards a giant DEATH healthbar.

It should be noted too that that "cradle of LIFE" orb is also a reference to another Georges Bataille book called "The Solar Anus" which recotextualizes the "Accursed Share" philosophy towards cosmic and biological analogies (rather than its original context in political economy), very similar to how Cruelty Squad mixes together grotesque bio-organic cyberpunk with cosmic horror

tl;dr Cruelty Squad is Bioshock replacing Ayn Rand with Georges Bataille"

Comment by "morgonfr33m4n1337z".

[Insect]

Originally posted by Eisen:

Back to your Vaush containment zone. Cruelty Squad is highly reactionary - if you have missed that, you are of low political IQ (as suspected from a Vaush/ChapoTrapHouse individual)

It can be reactionary and have many meanings, yes i realize what the game was alluding to many times. It doesn't change my point.

[Vamp Girl Logged On]

Originally posted by Eisen:

Back to your Vaush containment zone. Cruelty Squad is highly reactionary - if you have missed that, you are of low political IQ (as suspected from a Vaush/ChapoTrapHouse individual)

cry about it

[Iced Lenin]

Originally posted by Eisen:

Back to your Vaush containment zone. Cruelty Squad is highly reactionary - if you have missed that, you are of low political IQ (as suspected from a Vaush/ChapoTrapHouse individual)

Wow I bet you have billions in assets

[Just a gamer...]

Originally posted by Eisen:

Back to your Vaush containment zone. Cruelty Squad is highly reactionary - if you have missed that, you are of low political IQ (as suspected from a Vaush/ChapoTrapHouse individual)

lol nerd

[Nyu]

Originally posted by Konrad:

I found this brilliant comment on Youtube explaining the meaning of this game, I take no credit whatsoever for the following statement:

"The Georges Bataille quote at the end is the key to understanding the rest of the game:

It is a quote from his book "The Accursed Share" which describes the eponymous philosophy that essentially states if a system (e.g. an organism, economy, celestial body etc.) is unable to absorb excess energy (energy being wealth, life force, atomic mass etc. depending on context) for its own growth, that energy will inevitably be expended in a wasteful and/or catastrophic manner

The world of Cruelty Squad is a world without DEATH, as people have convenient access to resurrection technology. This resulted in an social-economy where "the value of life is negative" for it has an overabundance of said LIFE. This is why so many NPCs in the game are obsessed with human sacrifice. They want to, in vain, restore the value/meaning of LIFE by restoring its (economic) scarcity. This "overabundance of life" manifests itself into the fleshy augmentations, filth ridden landscape, and literal flesh caves popping up all over the earth as well as the abundance of mutant creatures made from recycled humans (who can't die properly). On multiple occasions they have established that the enemies/targets literally come back to life every time you replay a level and you are just killing them over and over again to annoy/punish them. Because the value of life is negative, so too is the wealth people accumulate, hence why so many targets (like the infamous chunkopops guy) just waste their money on stupid ♥♥♥♥, and the architecture and wall textures just stopped giving a ♥♥♥♥

The ending was essentially you confronting the "cradle of LIFE" (the giant orb in the final level) which essentially was the universal DEATH blocker responsible for the messed up sewage-infused garbage world you inhabit, the protag becomes a "being of pure grace" and reduces that universe down to an onion, and begins peeling it until it is totally undone, recreating a new universe where people are once again able to die (hence the "Golden Age" text). Notice how the protag and the people behind him in the cutscene are walking towards a giant DEATH healthbar.

It should be noted too that that "cradle of LIFE" orb is also a reference to another Georges Bataille book called "The Solar Anus" which recotextualizes the "Accursed Share" philosophy towards cosmic and biological analogies (rather than its original context in political economy), very similar to how Cruelty Squad mixes together grotesque bio-organic cyberpunk with cosmic horror

tl;dr Cruelty Squad is Bioshock replacing Ayn Rand with Georges Bataille"

Comment by "morgonfr33m4n1337z".

can you link the video? :c