A still from the video game 'Ecumene Aztec', developed by Giantscraft Games.
An Aztec warrior prepares an ambush in the middle of the jungle. He is seen sharpening some logs and preparing a kind of trap to harm the first unsuspecting person who passes through the undergrowth, like a soldier of the Spanish crown. In another scene we see the same warrior waiting in the middle of the jungle, stealthily, before jumping on a soldier and starting to hang him. The same formula can be seen in another fragment, only in the middle of what seems to be the city of the great Tenochtitlan. This time the character hides behind a wall and, stealthily, pierces with a sword the armor of a conquering soldier, ending his life. These are some frames with which the advance of Ecumene Aztec was presented a few days ago, a video game that puts the player in the skin of an Aztec warrior who must prevent the advance of Spanish troops during the year 1521.
The video game, by the Polish studio Giantscraft Games, has generated positive and negative comments from Mexican users and from different countries around the world. Opinions in Mexico are divided between those who applaud and value the initiative of developers to present something fresh and different; as well as the detractors and critics for the "inaccurate" portrayal of the civilization that inhabited at that time in what is now Mexico.
And also, on the other side of the pond, are the radical groups that have seen with displeasure that players can control natives of Mesoamerica and murder Spanish soldiers. For this reason, different ultraconservative groups bought the domain of the company, which was unregistered – apparently by an oversight – and turned it into a space of disinformation that exalts Spanish imperialism, in addition to presenting images linked to fascism and the extreme right.
The portal is presented with a phrase of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, which is accompanied by the cross of Burgundy, a symbol used and recovered by ultranationalists. The only link redirects to an Instagram account where they explain that a follower realized that the company had not renewed the domain on the web, so he decided to buy it and link it with the profile of this ultraconservative page. "A new video game based on the conquest of America where we play an Aztec warrior who, with dubious historical rigor, massacres Spaniards in the purest Assassin's Creed style. Contrary to what history tells us, in this title the Spaniards are captured as the little rigorous black legend as murderers, looters, slavers and ruthless genocidals, "says a publication on the Instagram profile.
A still from the video game 'Ecumene Aztec', developed by Giantscraft Games.
In a story anchored in the same profile, they complement that "the reality is that only 500 Spaniards were enough who, with the help of 120,000 Indians oppressed by the Aztecs seeking to rebel against their tyranny, allied themselves with the Spaniards and, commanded by Cortés, managed to overthrow their caudillos".
A representative of Giantscraft confirmed this takeover of its domain to The Verge and said that since the game was announced "they have been under attack from extreme right-wing groups" and have even received death threats, which is why the identity of the company's public relations officer is not revealed.
An estimate by historians estimates that 80% of the indigenous people of Mesoamerica had died because of battles, exploitation and epidemics in the late sixteenth century, during the conquest of the Aztec empire at the hands of Cortés. Federico Navarrete, a historian specializing in the conquest, sees it as normal to encounter "a lot of resistance" from certain sectors of Spanish society to make a critical reflection on this fact and that the positions are always not even conservative, "but openly retrograde."
"They are not open to accepting historical information and all they care about is a nationalist claim. The Spaniards were the invaders and the aggressors. It is rather a problem that some have with the historical truth," says Navarrete.
Other criticisms of the video game were regarding the portrait that was made of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Mexica empire, showing it jungle, in decay and gloomy. The also doctor in Mesoamerican Studies from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) considers that the setting repeats the common places of the Aztecs and Mexicas as "sacrificers", as well as another similar production about the Mayans such as Apocalypto, by Mel Gibson, or also cites the "infamous musical" Malinche , by Nacho Cano, a production that considers that "it is full of lies and in historical attitudes and fascist ideology there is an identification of the Aztecs with the jungle".
"The setting seems to be very ambiguous. It presents the Aztecs as jungle peoples [Malinche] and that is something I see here as well [in the video game] and that has more to do with the racist prejudices of Europeans who associate savagery with the jungle. If they are going to do what the Mexica or Aztecs do, they could have shown the chinampas, the aqueducts, Tenochtitlan or big cities like Cholula or Zempoala. What they show, on the other hand, is a much more question, in quotation marks, primitive, "says Navarrete.
Before the wave of comments, criticism and praise, the developer of the video game has decided to "listen to the public" and promised to work on the design of Tenochtitlan, in addition to giving its best effort to make the game "historically more accurate". Similarly, it would seem that the pressure of radical groups has had an effect, since in the announcement, published on the Steam platform – one of the most important digital distribution and sales portals in the world – they also announced that in the new final version it will be possible to choose a side. The user will be able to join the conquistadors and fight against the caste of the "sacrificial priests" or join the Aztec warriors and repel the newcomers.
"It wasn't planned. However, we saw that around 40% of the audience says they would like to have the option to join the pathfinders, so we could actually try to give this possibility. The game is not political in any way and never will be, it is a fiction based on historical facts, "announced the public relations of Giantscraft Games.
Despite all the stir caused by the announcement of Ecumene Aztec, which will not see the light tentatively until 2025 -according to Steam-, Navarrete highlights other cultural products that portray the time in a more appropriate way, such as the video game Yaopan, available for cell phones, about the Tlaxcalan conquests throughout Mesoamerica between 1519 and 1541; or the webcomic Aztec Empire, written by Paul Guinan and illustrated by David Hanh.
Another that follows the same thematic line is the Mexican developer Guillermo Alarcón, who enlists, for consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox, Mictlan: An Ancient and Mythical Tale, described as the first Mesoamerican themed video game, action and adventure, during the invasion of Spain to Mexico in the 16th century. Its tentative release date is also in 2025. It remains to be seen whether, like Ecumene Aztec, it will arouse the same passions.
Subscribe hereto the newsletter of EL PAÍS Mexico and receive all the informative keys of the news of this country
