An Analysis of Survival Games in Terms of Biopolitics: Frostpunk

Abstract

Biopower has been discussed by various scholars. Biopower focuses on life and produces it. Fictional universes can be illuminating in understanding the framework of biopower. Speculations on the future and disaster scenarios have been recurrent in many books and films up to the present and some of these have the potential to become a reality. Similarly, digital games can offer similar experiences. Digital games are influential on people and provide visions of the future. There are various types of digital games, but only survival games and government simulation games offer certain projections regarding real life and form the foresight which helps the individual to make social and individual inferences on alternative situations. The aim of the study, accordingly, is to analyse survival games in terms of biopolitics by specifically focusing on Frostpunk. The findings of the study suggest that the laws of Frostpunk can be discussed in terms of biopower. It is, therefore, possible to identify the traces of biopower in the laws of Frostpunk. Frostpunk, thus, contributes to the understanding of the framework of the concept of biopower. The findings of the study indicate that digital games can be used as subjects of scientific inquiry in terms of shedding light on certain phenomena and concepts, and also render them more understandable.