8 Video Games That Tackle Incredibly Polarising Subject Matter

2. Surgeon Simulator: The 2016 American Presidential Election

Donald Trump Surgeon Simulator
Bossa Studios

For commentators stood on the opposite side of the Atlantic watching the American Presidential Race has been a bit like watching a relative's racist uncle start a house fire, all whilst the emergency services attempt to put it out by hosing it down with gasoline and calling it an effective fire retardant.

It's not, and it's not fooling anyone, but still they persist - as does the fire.

Personifying said uncle is Donald Trump, a man who by all accounts embodies the demagogic legacy of George Wallace (albeit in a wotsit-tinged manner) and who - given the ever repulsive polarised nature of American politics - could by all means walk into the White House come January 2017. It's a terrifying prospect to say the least, but at least we have Bossa Studios to laugh us all into denial with their free add-on to 2013's cult hit, Surgeon Simulator.

That's right, now you can operate on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in a theatre emblazoned with all his most treasured possessions; ranging from Trump Steaks to Trump Vodka. Just don't expect to find a Trump University degree on there though, since, well, they never got around to actually printing any.

For a game like this to venture into political satire is pretty much unheard of, and it's already stirring controversy within what I imagine is the expansive Surgeon Simulator community. Still though, what's not to love about some well-timed political satire?

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.