For decades, the satirical publication The Onion has served as one of the leading voices for razor-sharp political comedy, skewering the absurdities of public life, media, and culture with unmatched cynicism. Now, at a time when the outlet feels as though it is reaching an unhinged peak, its editorial and development teams can add an entirely new accomplishment to their collective resume: video game developer.
Following an initial release directly on its website earlier in the month, The Onion Voting Simulator 3D is officially available for free on Steam. The short, lo-fi title draws direct inspiration from PC classics like Chex Quest to gleefully lampoon American democracy and the publication’s former corporate owners just in time for the upcoming midterm elections on November 3. Ahead of its expanded Steam launch, The Onion head writer Mike Gillis opened up about the origins of the project, explaining the unique opportunities the publication sees for satire within the medium of interactive gaming. While the title might not win awards for hyper-realistic graphics or technical polish, it stands as a testament to an era of renewed creative freedom for a rejuvenated team of satirists.
Despite being best known for its biting political commentary, print articles, and video sketches, The Onion has long flirted with gaming as a primary target for its jokes. In 2019, the publication launched the Onion Gamers Network, or OGN, designed to take direct aim at the often bizarre subculture of modern video games. That initiative birthed memorable headlines and comedic pieces such as "Bad News For Gamers: OGN Has Learned Ocarinas Are Real And They Fucking Suck." However, the conceptual spark for The Onion to actually develop and release an interactive video game of its own came roughly two and a half years ago, following a major corporate shift that saw the site sold by its former owner, the now-defunct G/O Media under its former CEO Jim Spanfeller.
According to Gillis, the acquisition by Global Tetrahedron breathed fresh life into the newsroom. The staff felt an immediate and palpable surge of energy, transforming their workplace atmosphere from one weighed down by corporate constraints to a space of unbridled artistic expression.
Global Tetrahedron had just taken the publication over from private equity, and the entire staff felt profoundly energized by the change. It was a moment of realizing they could seize their own fate instead of being ground down under corporate management. Gillis recalls retreating over a weekend shortly after the sale to ponder what an authentic Onion video game would actually look like.
Having previously experimented with the open-source Godot game engine alongside a collaborative collective of developers based in Chicago, Gillis decided to channel those skills into building a functional prototype for a brief 3D voting simulator. Management at The Onion reviewed the early build and immediately embraced the concept. However, a major calendar hurdle stood in the way of releasing it to the public immediately.
With the 2024 presidential election looming as a massive, monolithic fixture in the American consciousness, the team hesitated. Releasing a game that fundamentally argued that the electoral process was a waste of time during a presidential cycle carried different implications than saving it for a later date. Consequently, the staff shelved the immediate rollout, concluding that the tone of the project aligned much more naturally with the fatigue and apathy often surrounding midterm elections.
By the time 2026 arrived, the timing felt right to target the exhausting machinery of the voting process. The Onion Voting Simulator 3D drops players directly into a standard-issue middle-school gymnasium with a deceptively simple directive: vote. The execution, however, introduces every bureaucratic and systemic hurdle imaginable. Players must navigate a tedious and seemingly endless line, wrangle various forms of identification to prove their civic purity, and occasionally peer into the nightmarish hellworld burning just beneath the floorboards—a metaphorical nod to the publishing wreckage left behind by G/O Media. For players seeking an escape from the overwhelming stress of civic duty, the game thoughtfully includes a "Stay At Home Mode," allowing users to simply remain on a virtual couch and consume cannabis instead.
Despite the heavy layers of absurd cynicism baked into every pixel, Gillis emphasizes that the underlying intent was never to convince citizens that voting completely lacks importance. He acknowledges that the midterm elections remain critical events, but notes that the interactive format serves to validate a very real, widespread frustration that voters experience during every election cycle.
Existing within a broken system where individuals can feel like powerless peons with minimal impact on a race often breeds disillusionment, especially when available candidates fail to align with a voter’s ideal vision and the ultimate outcome promises little more than political stasis. The game aims to capture that exact psychological sensation of being a tiny, insignificant drop in the vast ocean of democratic infrastructure.
In crafting the experience, Gillis found significant inspiration in The Stanley Parable, the acclaimed 2013 narrative-driven game celebrated for its dark comedy and meta-textual deconstruction of player autonomy. That title’s framework—mocking the illusion of choice within a tightly restricted, authored environment—lined up seamlessly with The Onion’s broader philosophical worldview.
The Onion’s unofficial corporate ethos revolves around the fundamental premise that the individual often buys into systems that do not serve them, highlighting the shared human folly of believing one possesses absolute control. In the case of the simulator, the emotional landscape forces players between a rock and a hard place within modern American democracy. The player is encouraged to find a way to make an impact, while the underlying source code quietly reinforces the reality that escape is impossible, delivering only the precise experience the developers designed.
This creative milestone has been made possible by The Onion’s current operational standing under Global Tetrahedron’s independent ownership, which has fostered an environment of experimentation and daring humor. The publication has recently experienced a broader creative renaissance, highlighted by gonzo satirical endeavors like its takeover of InfoWars, which provided writers with fresh avenues for political mockery.
With the technical stability of a modernized website infrastructure—something Gillis notes would have literally caused the old G/O Media headquarters to combust if attempted previously—the door is wide open for future interactive projects. Given the positive reception to The Onion Voting Simulator 3D thus far, additional gaming ventures from the publication remain a distinct possibility, provided there are enough humorous insights to extract from the collective misery of modern civic life. As Gillis succinctly puts it, humor ultimately boils down to finding surprising and clever ways to watch a person fail.
