By: Tony

The premise of the game is fairly simple, and mirrors what is happening in america today. Workers are fed up and take to the streets, corporate interests and government officials use the police to beat down the rioters, but you, dear hero, will fight on.

The game is pretty small, and the graphics are blocky and pixelated. The gameplay is akin to Pikmin, you control the leader of a loose group of rioters. You move and act, and the crowd follows and mimics your actions. You can give some orders and the crowd follows, but mostly they fight the cops.

As far as games go, this is exactly the type of game you can expect from an indie game company. It is very reminiscent of Papers, Please in the storytelling, atmosphere, and ability to convey a meaningful message in a video game. The music has that 16-bit crunch that gets your blood pumping, and makes you want to abolish the police state.

This game was released on May 8th, which was a full 18 days before the BLM protests started over the death of George Floyd. Playing the game now, it feels almost prophetic. Each level starts with a newspaper headline that seems copy-pasted from the current media coverage of protests against police brutality.

This is a game, yes, but it also is a great outlet when you are feeling low and need something to do to clear your head.

Lately, I have struggled to find media that shares my sentiments on police, the government, or anything else right now. It obviously has not caught up with covid or the protests, or anything else that is happening in this hellscape of a year, so most shows and movies and games are based on a pre-2020 society.

This game, I submit, is one of the first that depicts our society as it is now. And for that, I say that it is the game of the year.