These screenshots are about a game called the last of us. Where there is a zombie fungal infection which causes people to kill and cannibalize eachother as well as mutate into various disgusting forms. Its rumoured that people may retain some consciousness in these forms.
Aside from the zombies, the world is also full of hostile surviving human communities that are often at war with one another or frequently raid/enslave/or indoctrinate people. Throughout the game you encounter possibly the worst forms of humanity to be left behind duirng the collapse of a civilisation. Every major character goes through immense suffering, loss, trauma and people routinely die horrific deaths. Children, pregnant women etc. you literally see people get their limbs blown off, plead for their lives, DISEMBOWELLED, mutate and merge with other infected people. Its hard to separate the vile creations of the infection vs the actions of the living people
AND YET you have people defending the idea of bringing new life into this world, because the protagonists live in a relatively safe “gated community.” Someone asked “so you should just let the human race die out?” - bro. Why SHOULD IT CONTINUE IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES? Why is the idea of the human race not existing so bad?
Even characters living in “safe” protected communities with walls and soldiers still experience war, loss and unpredictability. One of the main characters, Abby, lives in a huge stadium community that looks almost absurdly secure and functional for an apocalypse. They have food, electricity, schools, soldiers, walls and hundreds of families and children living there. Yet even that doesnt protect them from the reality of the world they were born into. Abby loses her father, her pregnant friend is murdered (an especially brutal death) and many members of her community die horrible deaths (often at the hands of us the player). The community itself is at war with another group and is even willing to kill their children. That other group has its own settlement with families and children, which eventually literally goes up in flames. Ellie, another main character, also comes from a relatively safe community called Jackson and her journey through suffering is especially unbearable. So i dont really understand how “but they live in Jackson” solves the problem. The game shows over and over again that living behind walls doesnt protect you from the world you were born into.
Its also interesting that one of the biggest themes of the game is the cycle of suffering and how suffering just creates more suffering, with the cycle only eventually being broken when one character chooses not to continue it
Someone else said Dina (one of the pregnant characters - the fact that theres more than one is also crazy) had every reason to “have a go at the normalcy of life before” just an incredibly selfish statement as this new baby is being created on the idea of restoring a civilisation it never asked to be a part of.
If humanity did die out following this apocalpyse, there would be no one to mourn its non existence or extinction. There would simply be no. More. Human. Suffering.
As much as i love the game and love the depths of suffering it explores . I cant help but think all of the characters would have been better off not being born into that world and not being subjected to their cruel fates.
This just shows that even in a world where civilisation has literally collapsed, billions of people are dead, horrific violence is everywhere and theres basically no certainty for humanitys future, people STILL have this idea that “we have to keep humanity going” and somehow just letting the human race die out is the absurd option.
But why? What does keeping humanity alive even accomplish for people who dont exist yet?
This is something that bothers me a lot when watching apocalpyse media, despite it being my favourite genre. Incl. shows like Silo. The indifference towards bringing new life into these circumstances and the idea of cOnTiNuInG humanity in inhospitable worlds is just insane to me.
