Human in Conflict: Engagements with Posthumanism in Quake and Deus Ex

This paper examines the potential of videogames for deconstructing humanism more than other cultural forms by analysing two videogame series which deal with the Posthuman issue in two different ways using deconstruction. The archenemies of the first series, Quake, are called the Strogg, an alien race depicted as existential threats to humans as well as exact opposites of everything that signifies being human. However, not only they acquire features that bring them closer to humans, the humans also obtain several qualities unique to the Strogg which prove beneficial to them in the story as well as to the player to a point where not being human becomes the most advantageous choice. The second series, Deus Ex, depicts an internal conflict among humans between those using bionics and those not using it. While the world depicts the chaos and corruption brought by the new technology, the protagonist becomes stronger by using those technical upgrades. This uneasy relationship between the Posthuman, the inhuman (not human) and the human relishes and rejects the human at the same time. These games, this paper argues, are rooted in the humanist discourse, but undermine and deconstruct their own foundation by celebrating the post-humanity of the human.