With its sexual violence, drug use, and scathing critiques of various political ideologies, "Disco Elysium" is a game that would never get the green light from Chinese government censors. Still, the detective RPG has been a surprise hit among Chinese gamers who use Steam as a loophole to access unrestricted, uncensored games.

On March 17, developer ZA/UM updated "Disco Elysium" with a simplified Chinese localization. This is the first time "Disco Elysium" has been translated into a language other than English, but the effort seems to have paid off. In the three weeks since then, "Disco Elysium" has seen a surge of positive reviews.

As of this writing, Disco Elysium has received 14,393 positive user reviews on Steam, of which more than 25% (3,787) were posted in the past three weeks and written in Chinese. In the week after the Chinese localization, the game received more positive reviews than any week since its launch; ZA/UM's classic RPG is getting more attention than ever on Steam.

Taking Steam Charts as an example, Disco Elysium hit its all-time high for concurrent users on March 19, with 8,081 people playing at once, nearly 50 percent more than the previous record. And while Steam Spy is not as accurate as it used to be due to changes in the way Steam publishes user data, nearly 70 percent of recent players are from China, and 155,000 of the estimated 444,000 sales occurred after March 17, another big sharp increase. (Note: These statistics are only available to Steam Spy Patreon subscribers.)

While these numbers are small compared to the most popular games in China (e.g., the nearly 30 million Chinese players who own PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds ), they are noteworthy for indie games like Disco Elysium. Steam's popularity in China has quickly made it an important market for developers in China and around the world. When we spoke with Max and Erich Schaefer, the original creators of [Diablo] and [Torchlight], they told us that China is the largest market for [Torchlight 2]; Florence, [Metro Exodus], [Don't Starve], and Firewatch" also benefit from China being the second largest (if not the largest) market.

What is fascinating about the success of "Disco Elysium" in China, however, is that it directly confronts a political system such as communism, given China's own extremely sensitive political environment.

The Chinese government imposes strict regulations on all media, and video games must abide by rules such as not displaying blood or corpses of any color if they seek a business license. In addition, according to a recent blog post by Niko Partners, an Asian gaming market research firm, "titles are encouraged to be created with core Chinese social values in mind, which includes games that promote traditional culture, especially those with historical, political, and legal accuracy It is because of these restrictions that the mobile version of PUBG was renamed Game For Peace, a clone of the very patriotic pretense that players will enforce peace as Chinese special forces."

These restrictions, however, do not explain the politically inspired scandals that often occur in the Chinese gaming scene: in 2019, the Taiwan-made horror game Devotion referenced a popular meme comparing President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh, art The discovery of the asset by players drew the ire of a significant number of Chinese gamers and the government. As a result of the tremendous backlash, Devotion's developers apologized and withdrew the game from Steam, and its Chinese publishing partner had its business license revoked by the government. Almost a year later, Devotion has yet to reappear.

Politics is a highly sensitive and divisive topic, as the Chinese government has a history of suppressing free speech. When I visited Shanghai last year to survey the challenges facing China's indie game scene, most developers refused to discuss government regulations unless they were anonymous. Despite such fears, the positive reception of Disco Elysium among Chinese Steam users is the best evidence that games of all shapes and political themes have users.

The fictional city of Levacor has been ravaged by tyranny, failed communist revolution, and free market capitalism. Disco Elysium is politically left-leaning, but it criticizes all types of ideologies, including communism. Even race has no limits. Although the ethnic groups in Disco Elysium are fictional, many of them are modeled after real-world ethnic groups. Through this, Disco Elysium explores racism without necessarily connecting it to our own reality. There is a particular focus on anti-Asian sentiment, reflected both in the player character's arbitrary dialogue choices and in the many racists he encounters during his investigation.

According to Abacus News, many Chinese Steam user reviews praised "Disco Elysium" for confronting these difficult political situations. One review translated by Abacus News reads, "Very impressive. 'A game that only a country that has experienced a communist revolution could possibly fully understand. It is a poem of despair and light."

"It depicts a time when isms collapsed, greatness breathed its last, and society was torn apart by various tribes trying to save profits and people," wrote another reviewer.

Interestingly, Abacus News notes that in the Chinese localization, politically sensitive words are not directly translated. For example, the word "communism" is translated into the coined term "kanmi chu yi" instead of "gong chang chu yi."

While it is plausible that this is to avoid direct comparisons with real-world ideologies, the names in "Disco Elysium" are often changed for taste or to fit the fictional setting. For example, in the English version, the real-world Western imperialists are called the Moralist International, while the communists in the game are called the Communists. While an interesting change, it is not a distinctive one.

For whatever reason, it is fascinating to see such a caustic and politically charged RPG gaining an even larger readership in China, where Disco Elysium rails against various ideologies that fail to address fundamental issues such as inequality and injustice in society It's one of the best games I've ever played (it also won PC Gamer's 2019 Game of the Year award), in part because of its content. It's a cathartic and challenging game. And thanks to Steam being a valuable loophole to get through China's internet firewall and newly translated into simplified Chinese, Chinese gamers can experience the game as well.

Updated April 9, 2020: updated this section explaining how Disco Elysium addresses racial issues. Our apologies.