Spec Ops: The Line - Darkness Settles In (GMV)

Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai! The story of Spec Ops: The Line set to "Darkness Settles In" by Five Finger Death Punch. More info in description if you're interested.

I found the story of Spec Ops: The Line to be an intriguing exploration of war and PTSD, and decided to make a GMV that explores some of its themes. Five Finger Death Punch is a metal band that is beloved by many soldiers and makes songs that touch upon similar things, so I felt one of their songs was a fitting choice.

The game's story was inspired by Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", and explores how the experience of war can strip men of their humanity and make it impossible for them to truly return to ordinary life. It also explores how misguided attempts at heroism can end up doing more harm than good. The protagonist, Walker, tries to be a hero but only ends up killing increasing numbers of innocent people, and goes into denial to the extent that he literally goes insane, blaming his former commanding officer Konrad for all of his atrocities.

At the end of the game, Walker has a choice of either accepting his guilt and committing suicide, or continuing to live in denial. He can then either return home, haunted by his experiences, or kill the entire evacuation team and become a monster. I felt the second of those two endings was more appropriate for this video.

Although it has a unique story, Spec Ops is, at its core, a generic cover shooter, so it didn't sell well. After all, it's hard to criticize a genre of video games when you're still bound by all of its constraints, but I think the developers did an admirable job. The game still has a small cult following to this day.

My GMV uses footage from Gaming Goliath, whose channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmNNOq6lkKQ7eolS3-qNqw/videos