Recently, I learned about a galgame called “Streamer’s Girl Heavy Dependence.” After reading all the ending analyses on Wikipedia and Zhihu, I feel like I could be furious—this game is extremely reactionary. The game’s plot is that the female protagonist, Tangtang, suffers from severe mental illness and drops out of school to stay at home. The player (“AP” in the game) is her lover and manager, helping her achieve the goal of gaining 1 million fans in the first month of becoming an online streamer.
This game is highly reactionary politically, with some artistic elements. Unlike other typical galgames that straightforwardly build goodwill and develop multiple romantic interests, this reactionary galgame is about “helping” a woman with mental illness from a savior’s perspective. It cloaks itself in a layer of extreme hypocrisy and shamelessness, pretending to care while actually oppressing women by taking advantage of their vulnerability.
Another reactionary aspect of this game is that it completely erases class struggle and promotes idealism. It suggests that girls’ depression and mental illnesses are without cause, and that dropping out of school without economic sources is also inexplicable. This fundamentally denies the tragic experiences of countless women persecuted and unable to find a way out, instead encouraging male players to fantasize about “helping” these women. It makes oppressed women see no way out, believing that only capitalism causes their victimization, and that mental opium is the only way to alleviate their pain. This keeps them enduring capitalist oppression without resistance, which benefits the bourgeoisie.
The game constructs a narrative where women are deeply oppressed, develop mental illness, and have no way out, leading them to rely on mental opiates to numb themselves. Male players then take pleasure in the women’s illness or influenced statements from bourgeois culture, filled with hostility and voyeurism towards oppressed women. Those capable of playing such a game are all filled with hostility and voyeuristic fantasies about oppressed women.