Dèsirè is fucked up

This game is, for lack of a better phrase, completely fucked up.  It's a point and click game, following the life of the titular character, a Frenchman born around 1980.  There's a brief prologue followed by four main chapters, taking place in 1992, 2003, 2011, and 2020.   Since the first chapter takes place when the character is a teenager and the pun on 'desire' is absolutely intentional, it's not surprising that there's a focus on sexuality.  What is surprising is how completely fucked up it is, again, for lack of a better phrase.  The main character is an amoral, manipulative psychopath, and I don't think the creators intended that, I think they genuinely intended for him to be relatable.

Here are some of the fucked up things that happen.  These bullet points are completely awash with spoilers, which I am not going to censor because I really do not recommend playing this game so it won't matter anyway.

• Dèsirè is being bullied, which, okay, relatable.  To get revenge on the bully, he decides to steal an x-rated poster from his dad, steal his dad's camera, give the poster to the bully, then take a photo of the bully masturbating.  He then distributes this homemade child pornography around the school.  This requires, firstly, getting one of his school friends to pretend to be interested in an unpopular girl so she'll give him her book, and, secondly, stealing a video of Dèsirè's psychiatrist molesting children - this is quite clearly spelled out, there is no ambiguity - to give to a priest in exchange for the priest's photocopier access card.
• Dèsirè - as an adult - asks, all innocence, why someone has to be homophobic to be against gay marriage.  Well, gee, I guess because wanting gay people to be treated differently just because they're gay is one of the ways homophobia is enacted.
• Dèsirè decides to try to get a date with a girl - who has let him down gently several times, take the fucking hint - by telling her his friend has a bar she can perform her original songs at, no big deal.
• As a part of his quest to get the bar, piano, and advertising for this no big deal, definitely not a date, Dèsirè decides to get one of his coworkers fired, by framing his for drinking on the job and corporate espionage.  He acts like this is a totally normal thing to do, as do those around him.
• As part of this quest, he forcibly feeds detergent to a tied-up person in order to make them vomit.  Sure, they're acting as a submissive sex-slave at the time, but not to Dèsirè, and they did absolutely not consent to being poisoned in this way.  Being a submissive doesn't mean consenting to whatever someone wants to do to you, especially if they're not the person you agreed to submit to in the first place.  The sub is in the most vulnerable position, so they should always, actually, be in control.  The pretence that they aren't is a game.  A similar misconception is the idea that having an open relationship means you can sleep with whoever you want and it isn't cheating.  It's more complicated than that.  You still need to have open channels of communication with your partner and consider their wants.  But that's a rant for another day.
• Speaking of rants, the game - via a few characters - has one about gaming companies wanting to make money instead of art.  I cannot roll my eyes any harder.
• Dèsirè tries to persuade one of his coworkers to sleep with another, purely so the second coworker will do a favour for him.  This game just really doesn't seem to have a healthy relationship with women or sex.
• There's also some coprophagia in this bit, but at least that's between consenting adults.
• Dèsirè is upset that the woman cancels his "no big deal, casual not a date" thing at the last minute and doesn't appear to appreciate the effort he put in.  You explicitly told her there was no effort, you stupid twat, how is she supposed to appreciate it?  Also, the "effort" was the last couple of bullet points, and I don't think many women would "appreciate" that fucked-upness.
• Dèsirè decides to swear off all women based on this rejection and not being attractive as a teenager.  We all get rejected, but, okay, go ahead, cry me a river.
• This happens.

• Much comment is made - by Dèsirè and the pubic louse - of the smell.  This game just...really fucking hates women.
• One of Dèsirè's friends is openly in a sexual and romantic relationship with her dog, and this is treated as some kind of alternate lifestyle choice which some disapprove of but others don't.  It's openly compared to Dèsirè wanting to have a relationship with a trans person (referred to in game as a "ladyboy" and a "woman, but that's a mirage" so I'm suspect the correct pronouns are those for women, but I'm not sure).  I hope I don't need to elaborate on how completely fucked in the head whoever wrote this game is.  Perhaps that's why they decided to make the game monochrome - because they just hate all shades of the rainbow.  Sorry, don't "hate", they're not homophobic, they just don't understand why gay people should have the same rights as straight people, or why trans people should be referred to respectfully.  That's totally different.  This is sarcasm, I am being sarcastic.  The game is translated from French, but I don't think all of this can be explained by translation issues.
• Dèsirè visits his friend.  Friend is not home.  Dèsirè breaks in, like a completely normal person who is not an amoral sociopath would do.  Once inside, he breaks into the safe to read a private letter.  Having read the letter - which is a blackmail threat - Dèsirè decides to investigate himself, rather than call the police about the fact his friend is missing and was being blackmailed.  Perhaps he doesn't want to be arrested for breaking and entering, which, again, are things normal human beings who are not amoral manipulative sociopaths do all the time.
• It turns out that Dèsirè's friend is a paedophile who "never hurt anyone", despite watching child pornography.  The game defends this as being "for his own private consumption", but yeah, no, that's still contributing to the child pornography industry and increasing the number of children who are molested to produce more of these videos, even if the viewer isn't personally doing the molesting.  Personally, while I don't think anyone chooses to be a paedophile, and I think people should be able to get help to stop having those urges without being treated as a criminal if they have not yet actually committed a criminal act, indulging those desires by viewing child pornography or anything worse is a choice, and one that harms others.  How much control you have over your thoughts or desires is debatable, but to actively harm others is far less of a grey area.
• Anyway, after defending the guy who'd been watching child porn, the game calls on intellectuals to mobilise to go after the "real criminals", and calls this failure to care for child-porn watchers an unsavoury aspect of humanity.  Okay.  Speaking of "real criminals", okay, yeah, blackmailing someone to the point where they commit suicide (spoiler) is also a crime and should also be dealt with through some channels.  I offer no comment as to which is the greater crime or how either should be dealt with because both are above my paygrade.  I wouldn't normally consider myself a fan of vigilante justice, preferring that we, as a society decide how to deal with suspected criminals and then proven criminals and that those channels should work appropriately.  If it's just on anyone to go and attack anyone they suspect of committing a crime...well, that's how innocent people die.  Apparently that's also what happens when we leave it to the police, so, again, this whole thing is way above my pay grade, but I know I definitely do not agree with the game's viewpoint.
• Dèsirè claims, after living in Africa for two years, that he is "no longer the white man".  I think - allowing for translation issues - he's saying he's no longer a stranger in the town, but, at this point, I'm not really keen on giving the game the benefit of the doubt.
• He then steals some ivory tusks from the shopkeeper because it's really important he get back to France, so, yeah, even if he's not a stranger he's not really a friend you'd want.  Unless you're into child pornography, apparently.
• In the final chapter, Dèsirè is shocked to learn that spreading all that child pornography around in chapter 1 has had some negative effects.  This is why no one likes you, fuckwit.
• The bully gets in some bits about how liberalism is a cancer or whatever, and about his girlfriend tricking him into conception, and how somehow it was her fault her hit her and lost access to his kids.  I think the game is suggesting we all go back to the good old days of colonialism and women not being allowed to talk.  This is also sarcasm.
• Oh, there's a character called Bimbo.  That's good, I was worried they'd miss the chance to let in a last little bit of misogyny at the bell.  Dèsirè steals from her as well.
• After persuading a little girl to allow Dèsirè - now a forty-year-old man - to follow her home, Dèsirè steals a book from her grandfather who has been nothing but kind and trusting.  He then decides that this is the absolute limit of his morality and gives the book away.  Not back to the old man, he gives it as a gift to the granddaughter.  Because that was his choice to make, obviously.
• Oh, and now there's Jesus.  He doesn't look very middle eastern.  Jesus has a rant about how the world is filled with imposters and you should listen to true messengers, even if they are not great and don't produce art with a capital A.  I think the devs just gave themselves a personal shout-out and recommendation from Jesus himself.

What I'm really annoyed about is I accidentally bought this game twice.  I picked it up on humble bundle both times, with a handful of other cheap games.  Both copies appear on my steam account because, according to rumour, the version with Dèsirè as the title was removed due to fake reviews and was then replaced with a version with Desire as the title, which is exactly the fucking same.  The combined cost of both copies of the game was £2.54, so I'm not too annoyed about that - I've spent more on a terrible cup of tea before now - but I am annoyed that Steam won't let me delete both copies from my steam account.  It's weird.  They're listed separately on my library, but downloading and uninstalling one appears to cause some elements from the other to be removed and requires them to be re-downloaded.  Saves can be moved between both.  However, when I try to permanently delete the game from my account, Steam cannot find Dèsirè, only Desire.  I cannot stress how much I want to delete this stupid game.  Which I suppose begs the question of why I bought it (twice!).  I guess it's because it sounded interesting.  Steam - where the game is currently priced at £7.19, which is shocking for three hours of terrible, terrible, gameplay - offers the following description;

When the schoolteacher asks Désiré why he didn't draw the sun like the other pupils, he replies spontaneously: « It's always night in my head. »
Désiré is colour-blind from birth and he will lead you into in world of black and white. He marches on hesitantly, as life never brought him much joy. From a tender age, he is going to meet several characters who will elicit in Désiré intense emotions and alter his vision in surprising ways. Is colour at the end of the road?
The game is, at its core, a critique of the modern world and of the perverting nature of a consumer, profit-obsessed society.

I might also have picked up - from somewhere, possibly humble bundle - that the character's inability to see colour is somehow a metaphor for social anxiety.  Which it is, but it's heavily drowned out by the massive amounts of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and the discussion of how child pornography is totally fine, really, and the intellectual elite should focus on real criminals.  So, yeah, don't buy this game, especially not for £7.19.  You should not pay £2+ per hour to be exposed to this shit.