What Actually Makes Something 'Woke'? Highly Anticipated Video Game Sparks Massive Conservative Debate
Politics are downstream of culture, and that grows truer by the day. And it’s become especially true with regard to pop culture.
Entertainment and technology are key parts of pop culture, so we’re taking you to the front lines of the culture war by addressing some of the best — and strangest — stories from that world in this recurring column exclusive to members of The Western Journal.
While conservatives are enjoying all this “winning” in the wake of President Donald Trump’s ascendancy, a curious debate has cropped up amid the conservatives who also identify as gamers.
And, frankly, it’s something conservatives as a whole need to address.
Namely, what makes something “woke”? Without being able to properly answer that question, conservatives run the risk of having “woke” turn into the left’s version of “racist” — an empty cliché that means nothing.
The reason this debate erupted had to do with the upcoming launch of “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II,” a highly-anticipated action-adventure game from Warhorse Studios.
The game is a follow-up to 2018’s highly lauded “Kingdom Come: Deliverance,” and it’s worth pointing out that leftist chuds originally derided that game for the usual reasons.
The first game took place in the Kingdom of Bohemia, a real-life Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire.
One of the selling points of the first game was that the game was committed to genuine historical accuracy — something whiny leftists conveniently ignored while crying about the lack of minorities in the game.
Despite that smear campaign, the first “Kingdom Come” still released and became an instant hit, due in no small part to how immersive it was.
(For example, your player character is an illiterate peasant at the start of the game, so when you open up books in-game, letters will look like a garbled mess. Non-player characters also respond to you differently based on your cleanliness — which is hardly a given in medieval times.)
Fast forward to 2025, and “Kingdom Come” is once again in the middle of a culture war — though this time it’s not the left casting a critical eye.
No, Warhorse Studios’ prized sequel has come under fire after reports first surfaced that “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II” was banned in Saudi Arabia due to a cutscene that depicted gay sex.
As gamer publications noted, these rumors started on social media. Warhorse Studios actually flat-out denied them.
Unfortunately for Warhorse, given the way the internet (and social media especially) works, that allegation was enough to kick off a firestorm of controversy from conservative gamers.
(As an aside, one of the reasons conservative gamers are so upset about this is that many of them supported the original “Kingdom Come” to help counter the leftist narrative surrounding it. Many characterize the sequel’s potential “wokeness” as a betrayal of values.)
It got fervent enough that Warhorse Studios co-founder Daniel Vávra had to directly address some of the more salacious rumors:
WARNING: The following posts contains language and graphic descriptions that some readers will find offensive.
LOL. This is hilarious. Of course its 100% made up bullshit. ZERO words from this dumb shitpost are true. ZERO. https://t.co/FH0RJ8IxKX
— Daniel Vávra ⚔ (@DanielVavra) January 21, 2025
“LOL,” Vávra began, responding to a user who shared a screen shot of an alleged plot leak. “This is hilarious. Of course its 100% made up bulls***.
“ZERO words from this dumb s***post are true.
“ZERO.”
Vávra doubled down on those sentiments when an X user asked for clarification:
I already said several times that there are NO UNSKIPABLE FORCED CUTSCENES and there is NO FORCED RELATIONSHIP WITH ANYONE. Its made up grifter bullshit.
— Daniel Vávra ⚔ (@DanielVavra) January 21, 2025
“I already said several times that there are NO UNSKIPABLE FORCED CUTSCENES and there is NO FORCED RELATIONSHIP WITH ANYONE,” Vávra added. “Its made up grifter bulls***.”
Look, obviously, this game is not out yet, and it’s impossible to actually render a verdict on whether or not the franchise has gone “woke.”
Some conservative gamers are willing to move past whatever these potential issues might be, while others are boycotting the game entirely. Most appear to be in a “wait and see” mode with the game as the debate rages over whether or not KC:DII is worth the likely $70 price tag that will come with it.
Whatever they decide to do, it would probably behoove conservative gamers to figure out what “woke” entails before this game releases on Feb. 4.
Is a gay scene “woke” if it sets up the protagonist to kill one of the gay people (who’s an antagonist)? Is a transgender character “woke” if the game ultimately imparts the message that transgenderism is a mental disorder? Is “representation” considered “woke” if the characters make sense historically, are actually all well-written, and don’t rely on “LOOK AT MY SKIN COLOR” as a character trait?
It’s a tough, nuanced debate, but an important one, lest conservatives fall into the same reactionary trappings of the far left.
If everything is woke, nothing is, not unlike how if everything is racist, nothing is.
As to this writer’s personal opinion on the “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II” brouhaha, I think it’s a total waste of time and energy.
One, the game’s not out. Hysteria and hearsay literally don’t help anyone.
But two, as mentioned above, what are we even arguing about here? What is “woke” and what is not? Without defining the parameters, we could be making mountains out of molehills.
Yes, “woke” is generally accepted as shoehorning in leftist ideologies into places where they’re unneeded, but where do we draw the line between actually tackling the leftist subject versus forcing it into something? Again, it’s a tough debate with no clear answer — and no clear answers will be available until the game drops.
Thankfully, one of the best things about capitalism is that the market will ultimately dictate what happens next to Warhorse Studios’ anticipated sequel.
If “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II” comes out and is a grand homosexual simulator with little regard for the time period’s historicity, it probably won’t sell very well.
Conversely, if there’s nothing “woke” in it — or if the “wokeness” is undefined and murky — this outcry is much ado about nothing, and the game will probably sell just fine.
(And for the record, I won’t be getting the game because I was terrible at the first one. Yeah, yeah. “Skill issue.”)
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