[Was gonna originally comment this on your post recommending Akira to people who enjoyed Iron Lung, but it ended up being wayyy too long to flood a comment section with so I'm putting it here if that's cool, teehee:]
Gonna seem like a strangeee addition, but as well as Akira (banger movie. Killer suggestion) I must also suggest the game NieR: Automata.
Less so for the body horror reasons (though it does have some of that) and more for the post-apocolyptic sci-fi world that's almost devoid of hope for salvation.
There's that and a few other features the game has in common with Iron Lung like:
The protagonists going through the agonising struggle of being forced to fight a pointless battle for a teensiest slither of (𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺) false hope
Gods that hold humanity in reverence but could never hope to truly understand it
Servants of said gods being oddly infantile in nature (𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦)
Themes of facing guilt for staining your hands with blood of the innocent (including people you held close, assuming the theory that Simon was feeding people on Eden to the tree at least a few times)
a handful of characters living through the crippling guilt of accidentally causing mass death
The contrast of dramatically different philosophies among factions, including a quirky little death cult
classic 'ol biblical name themes (𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦)
Underlying motif of perspectives (has you play the 1st half of the game twice through the POV of 2 different characters for some pretty cool twists)
Stern, pretty, boss-ass, blonde captain of a space-station lady is there to send our pretty princesses to die
You can make 2B eat a fish that kills her instantly for fun (𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯×𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘺𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦)
Black boxes are a thing (and when you clink 2 together like wine glasses, they make a big Akira-explosion 😌 very romantic)
A virus that incorporates you into a hive mind that likes to be red is there also
I may be reaching, but the character A2 feels pretty Simon-core in some regards
𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦: iirc, I remember you mentioned a while back when talking about your bloodymary writing playlist that you pick music that meshes harsh and dreary mechanical sounds together with serene and angelic choir-y sounds and that is just straight up NieR: Automata's OST to a capital 𝗧. If anyone reading this takes one thing away from my rambles, it's that the OST at the very least is SO worth checking out imo
SO sorry for how big that word vomit was 😖. Coulda probably made that more concise (not even sure if it was coherent), but I'm sleep deprived and the hyperfixation demons compelled me 💀
I'll cease my infernal yapping and let you get on with your day now
ooooooo shit i fucking love videogames and this sounds right up my alley. i gotta finish playing Mother 3 first but I'll add this to my list!
stormborns
titsay
vaporwave
