Dark Entanglement and Visions of the Post-Anthropocene in Battlefield 2042

Abstract

While the revelation of our entanglement with other biological actors and our surrounding environments can radically reshape our relations with Earth, a form of dark entanglement also underlies contemporary life. This darkness is legible through the ways that enmeshed capitalist, geotechnic, and cybernetic infrastructures fuel unsustainable and exploitative human interactions with Earth. This form of dark entanglement also underpins the operational logic of the military-industrial complex. We turn to Battlefield 2042 (DICE, 2021), where player encounters with dark entanglements coalesce into a vision of an apocalyptic post-Anthropocene era. Textual analysis of the game reveals how its narrative and ludic structures plunge players into a harrowing vision of Earth’s future. The entangled forces of capital, geotechnic systems, and military-industrial imperatives emerge as central to the play of Battlefield 2042 and situate players at the point of transition from the Anthropocene era to an apocalyptic post-Anthropocene future. Extending arguments that the material conditions of the Anthropocene have permeated digital media, we suggest that games such as Battlefield 2042 reflect, illuminate, and extrapolate the inexorably necrotic logic of our era. Understanding this intricate web of dark entanglements, including through videogames, is crucial for grappling with the existential challenges that define the Anthropocene and what may follow.