This was an interesting first person puzzle-exploration game. It doesn't seem to have connected with me the way it connected with some of the other reviewers I've read, but that's okay. The soundtrack is great, the mood and ambience is also great. I wish there was a little more to the gameplay, but it's solid for what it is. My two biggest complaints are that post-processing the photos was tedious (using XB1 controller on Steam, if that matters), and since it didn't affect your score, I stopped bothering after the first level. Given that the entire game is about taking photos, and many of the upgrades you collect are just more post-processing sliders, I think making that mechanic less tedious would have been a good idea. Second, and this is more a personal anecdote than anything, this game gave me really bad motion sickness after playing it for 2, 2.5 hours. Thankfully it's a pretty short game, so I was able to complete it in about three of those sittings on stream.

All in all, solid game, but not an all-timer.

-The power and futility of images
-The unreconcilable friction between self expression, documentation, and occupation
-The urgency and necessity of cultural perseverance and joy, even as bloody torrents surge through broken dams
-The act of bearing witness to the places and people whose glittering specificity will be dashed and diluted by apocryphal, self-absolving media narratives scrawled by the servants of those who erased them
-The film reel collectibles are TOO SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I've played a game more prescient and pointed in a long time. Umurangi has so much to say, about fascism, art, apocalypses, the overwhelming sense of doom and the tiny tiny joys within, and does it all wordlessly and powerfully. As a mediocre creative myself, the photography is a good reminder to take joy in the things you make with your friends, but also a firm hand to point out that it alone will not save anyone.

The Macro DLC especially hits hard, replicating a feeling that i've had all too much these days, Its melancholic doom worn away revealing a white hot rage beneath. Umurangi Generation is Angry about the world, and so am I.

There's a long list of faults I have with Umurangi. The staticness of the levels, a timer that's best left ignored, a generally very poor sense of polish and quality of life features, and an unlock system for parts that i'd say is outright awful.

But everything else, I pretty much adore. A dystopian sci-fi tale told entirely through it's environments, where the gameplay - which consists of simply exploring and taking pictures of objectives, compliments perfectly. It's a really simple conceit for the game and there's really not much depth to anything you need to do - but it gets you looking closely at the environments - and then those environments grab hold of you and don't let go.

The atmosphere here is absolutely nailed. The lo-fi beats and visual style contribute greatly to the story trying to be told here - and the story, which is basically just a slow descent into the truth of the game's world in what is a very blatant allegory for our own - and despite never saying more than a few words, it really does hit hard for me. Fortunately, the game also just works as a really neat sci-fi adventure even taking that into account.

Oh and fuck me does this game know how to do a Wham moment, with great use of music, gameplay and environments to shock the player - but never cheaply. It's honestly reminiscent of the sort of thing Hideo Kojima would do at times, and I mean that in the kindest way possible.

Finally, a word on the DLC - it's good. It's a lot more pointed and less subtle than the base game, and really gives the impression as something made with anger. It might not have worked if it weren't for its last level in particular being unbelievably strong.

The faults I mentioned at the start do frustrate to some extent. But I hope i've captured in the rest of these scatterbrain thoughts that this experience is so special they barely even matter in the grand scheme of things. Highly reccomended.

There's a story in my head that I've been searching for, searching for as long as I can remember. Somewhere along the way, I realised that I couldn't find it anywhere else, and would have to tell it myself. Until I found Umurangi Generation.

This isn't that story, exactly, but it was a hand reaching out across the vastness of digital space, resting on my shoulder, telling me I'm not alone. We're all here, all watching the same thing on the same screens, but seeing different things through different eyes. Living in the final moments before the light burns out forever, making what we can with what little we have.

Few games are so evocative and creative and atmospheric. Few works of fiction period feel so intensely relatable to me.

A modern masterpiece.

El movimiento entendido como toma de posición. La posición como punto de vista, como lugar desde el que presenciar. Y el disparo entendido como la captura de un lugar en un momento específico.

Umurangi Generation propone un juego de fotografía en el apocalipsis para que, una vez el mundo acabe, nos paremos a revisar nuestro recorrido a través de nuestros propios ojos y veamos qué decidimos mirar mientras todo se terminaba.

Uno de esos casos donde uno se pregunta cómo esto no fue inventado antes.

A first person photography game that uses Māori symbolism and Jet Set Radio as influences to show how the generation with no future deals with the end. Take pictures of your friends, the environment, and people at the end of the world caused by environmental issues and a kaiju attack from the sea. Each of the levels range from you and your friends in towns full of memorials and film and recruitment posters, street dance parties before the world's end, bloody combat zones, train rides of survivors, etc. Unlock new lenses, camera options, editing options by finishing levels and completing objectives. Gives you a lot of options to take pictures how you want once you unlock everything and are no longer trying to finish under time constraints.

Jumping can be awkward with double jumps not always working or falling through things you would think you could stand on. Unlocking the hover boots pretty much removes the issue in addition to opening up some nice photo opportunities.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1284713563769024515

Static places that are already fixed in time and space, is photography worthless there? Well, there comes perspective as a way of reinterpreting those places, emphasizing what the photographer considers most important.

But before the player can put their subjective view there are objectives to complete. While a weird decision, to say the least, I can welcome the developers giving a guiding hand to help lazier people (like me) in appreciating the details of these spaces. But what is it that the developers emphasize with these objectives? I’m sorry but I hope it is understandable that I don’t really have much energy left after making me shoot “a text that reads 'Property of the UN' in a sarcastic tone” or “a picture that contains ‘Gamer’ at least 7 times” (I don’t need to search for neoliberalism when it is all over the place), applying some filters to the photos, doing all of that hopefully in less than 10 minutes and then getting paid some money.

At least after that I can give it a rest and now take on a more free view of the stages. But I’m still unconvinced. The world is ending so I get the carefree youth trying to enjoy what they have left with the 15 years old nihilism written on the walls, I’ll let that slip. The critique of the world capitalizing the worst disaster even when the world is about to end is neat, definitely shows that the game was developed through 2020. The critique to cops and military forces? That’s another story. Countless messages written on walls denouncing how bad cops are and how hollow it ends up being a soldier. But then you turn around and what are these supposedly bad forces doing? Soldiers fighting the aliens with all they have in order to protect humanity? I understand the duality between the youth that has already accepted the end and the forces that refuse to give up, but neither of them are exactly doing anything bad, just dealing with the inevitable as best as they can.

What is left? I’ll go and ignore everything and take a picture of all my friends, nothing can take that away no matter when and where. Everyone on frame... 3, 2, 1…

“3.17$ COLORFUL DETAILED FISH EYE GROUP”

Umurangi generation is a game that wants you to observe and understand its world, its habitants and their situation using photography to capture it in your own way, but (sadly) failing miserably at it.


First off, what’s the point of making a game about observation and understanding if you add a 10min timer to the main game mode? What am I supposed to see and understand if I’m too busy searching for the stuff I need in order to go on? Oh my god. But that’s just the beginning: it’s also a game about doing what you’re told. Picture this and that, from this distance and with this lens, and we’ll give you 3 dollars for each picture if you’re lucky. Super punk stuff. Since time pretty much stands still, the world feels less like so and what you can capture with your camera is much less interesting. Having every character and object placed specifically for the player to see them and take some pictures like it’s some cyberpunk theme park seems kind of weird. Even the level design has some dubious decisions in form of object placement for the player to reach certain spots necessary to take some obligatory photos. It really makes you feel like an arbitrary being, almost like a god, observing without being seen, living without consequences, existing without feelings.



Now about the game commentary, specifically about the bias against the police forces. Fuck the police, ACAB, etc. (yes, I love politics not only in video games but also in video game reviews, fuck you) but in Umurangi they’re just doing what they’re told. There’s no abuse of power anywhere, no police brutality to be seen. They’re just guarding places, doing routine checks, shooting aliens and dying while the president is having some nice holidays somewhere else. 

Guess that’s what happens when the world stands still, losing context and perspective and therefore damaging its own ideas.