Carcer City may not be a world abandoned by God. It may be a world abandoned to itself.
SPOILERS Manhunt 1 and 2
While replaying manhunt 1 and 2 after all these years, one idea kept bothering me. The idea that almost everybody in these games is being watched and yet, that fact does nothing to add any layer of protection. A divine witness would imply moral weight, but there is nothing sacred about the watcher in this case. As Cash has Starkweather above him and the camera's gaze follows him all throughout Carcer City. The funding of this spectacle is only made possible because of there being a market for such content and perhaps that says a lot more about us than we care to admit.
Daniel, on the other hand, has Leo constantly beside him, guiding his hand gently enough to make him believe that his choices are his own. While beneath the surface and from an external perspective, it is easy to recognise that Leo is intentionally manipulating Daniel into trusting him to make the decisions for him.
All of the above led me towards the religious side of Manhunt
Nietzsche's "God is Dead and we have killed him." fits the reality of Carcer City very well. Manhunt illustrates a place where human beings seem to have lost their inherent value. Cash is only worth whatever entertainment his suffering can produce. The gangs are only useful as a visceral canvas that Cash can better express his artistic side through. Even Cash's family becomes useful to Starkweather once he realises that he can use them to get a reaction out of Cash.
But I also considered the other possibility
Proverbs 1:26-28 describes a case where people reject wisdom until calamity finally arrives, but at that point it's already too late. So maybe it wasn't God who abandoned Carcer City, but rather it was us who turned our backs first.
Carcer City may not be a world abandoned by God. It may be a world abandoned to itself.
The idea burrowed it's way into my skull to the point that I ended up making a video essay speaking on this, alongside Cash's morality, Starkweather winding him up just to see what happens, Daniels relationship with Leo and the deeper question: Why do we as players enjoy watching manhunts brutality in the first place.
I finished the video and figured this would be the one community where people would have strong opinions about it:
https://youtu.be/iH6HvXdu5oY?si=W322ZVOIhsJLozC4
I'm curious as to how you guys read Carcer City. Is there a moral order behind this somewhere or could Manhunt be showing us what people become when they believe there is nothing above them?