Videogames and war have had a... problematic relationship, at least from an outside perspective, to say the least. The amount of self-nominated ''anti-war''' USA filmography saw a huge influx during the 70's and 80's, and while there's a strong argument to be had about if most films or even ANY film can truly distance itself from the celebration inherent to violence that comes with even justifying these horrors or showcasing why certain conflicts begin in general, it's still a huge departure from the shameless propagandistic nature of the war films of the beginning of the century. Few are the videogames that have strayed away from glorification, and I believe that it has only gotten worse as decades pass. There is a humongous problem when one of, if the biggest gaming franchise has had the on-going support and sponsorship of the official American Military and many of its storylines aren't ashamed of being openly pro-interventionism and defend the American and western imperialism, but if Call of Duty was the only problematic franchise of this nature existing, it would be heaven compared to what we truly have now.
If you enjoy Call of Duty or Battlefield or any series that shares any of that common DNA, I have absolutely zero problems, and I’m sure that a lot of the games can be great and a ton of fun especially considering the multiplayer aspect, I’m no crazy politician claiming that videogames are the root of all evil and shaming and pointing those that enjoy it (Tho you’d be pressed to find any depute on the parliament that criticizes these series in the same way I do), but what I do point out is a clear endemic problems that only glorifies institutional violence more and more: the army are the good guys protecting us from these evil foreign forces, those are the ones we point to, war is only taken at face value, as an act of shooting down faceless bad guys, another process of dehumanization of humanity, and that’s scarier than any parent that thinks that Pokémon is the devil could ever conceive. But what other thing do you even do? What could you do? Attempts at deconstructing these notions result in either poor player base perception or a series of missteps that in some cases make the game send the total opposite message, so is it even worth it? Is even conceivable to try and deconstruct war in any capacity? Is such thing as an Anti-war game even possible?
Mémoire 0079 is a text based game that initially feels like exploring like reading a wiki or a series of articles; reading the initial article is impossible to get excited at the idea of being transported to a futuristic Earth and the war waging against an Empire formed in the other colonies located beyond the orbit and the stars, at the front of it all the greatest hero of all, Vega Hawthorn who gave her life riding her mech, the Mark I, to get revenge at the Empire and the evil murderers of her mother. It’s a space epic that has it all, a hero, a villain, a setting, a motivation, it’s too good to be true!.. too good to be true…
It didn’t really feel cool anymore.
I was just scared
The rabbit hole only gets deeper and deeper as you read, and incessant number of forever unsewered questions, of dirty secretes that none were supposed to find open partially to you, and even with names lost to time and passages censored beyond reparation, the curtain opens and opens until it finally breaks down; what should be obvious is clear now, this is no epic, this is war. Mémoire 0079 is about war, and all that truly implies. A tragedy of the people forced to take part it ill. The deaths of countless with the only purpose to throw around the blame to a supposed terrible enemy. The perversion and the propaganda. The ones truly behind it all. It is a conflict grander beyond any imaginable limit, not in the way because it’s worth it or it defines justice or rights, but because so much it’s lost it is incomprehensible, and that only makes it easier for lies and narratives to spur out. It stops being a game, a story, and starts feeling more like a documentary, a peep behind the veil of this galaxy rotten by those in power and lies of nameless CEO’s, but also the turmoil of those that have to fight it.
I need you to be a person. I need to hear your voice
It’s gripping in all the best ways, it makes you livid in all of the best ways, it’s unlike anything I’ve read in a very long time, only moments are only made better by the fantastic music and visual accompaniment. It nails that particular feeling that it goes for and rebels in it, it isn’t about any real occurrence, yet some parts feel like I could have read them in a news outlet with some changes, and I think that says it all. I wish I could go even deeper, not only to know more about this world, but also being able to explore every possible theme, everything it has to say, which it is a lot, but me merely describing everything would be a disservice, it deserved to be read and experienced, it’s a step on a really bright direction, a wonderful story on its own merits, and one that it has so, so much to uncover.
Even if it’s not perfect and some parts do drag a bit and don’t end up really adding much, it deserved to be called and achievement, and if any of the team members get to read this, any compliment would fall short of describing what was accomplished, it was utterly fantastic, and now more than any time, it feels like a game that it needed to be made.
Mémoire 0079 alone isn’t gonna change the state of warlike gaming in the slightest, but it’s a showing of how there’s hope, that time to time we can get a work that proves the industry at large wrong, that there are stories that can and should be told.
Of the pain that must be endured.
Here we are, you and me
If you enjoy Call of Duty or Battlefield or any series that shares any of that common DNA, I have absolutely zero problems, and I’m sure that a lot of the games can be great and a ton of fun especially considering the multiplayer aspect, I’m no crazy politician claiming that videogames are the root of all evil and shaming and pointing those that enjoy it (Tho you’d be pressed to find any depute on the parliament that criticizes these series in the same way I do), but what I do point out is a clear endemic problems that only glorifies institutional violence more and more: the army are the good guys protecting us from these evil foreign forces, those are the ones we point to, war is only taken at face value, as an act of shooting down faceless bad guys, another process of dehumanization of humanity, and that’s scarier than any parent that thinks that Pokémon is the devil could ever conceive. But what other thing do you even do? What could you do? Attempts at deconstructing these notions result in either poor player base perception or a series of missteps that in some cases make the game send the total opposite message, so is it even worth it? Is even conceivable to try and deconstruct war in any capacity? Is such thing as an Anti-war game even possible?
Mémoire 0079 is a text based game that initially feels like exploring like reading a wiki or a series of articles; reading the initial article is impossible to get excited at the idea of being transported to a futuristic Earth and the war waging against an Empire formed in the other colonies located beyond the orbit and the stars, at the front of it all the greatest hero of all, Vega Hawthorn who gave her life riding her mech, the Mark I, to get revenge at the Empire and the evil murderers of her mother. It’s a space epic that has it all, a hero, a villain, a setting, a motivation, it’s too good to be true!.. too good to be true…
It didn’t really feel cool anymore.
I was just scared
The rabbit hole only gets deeper and deeper as you read, and incessant number of forever unsewered questions, of dirty secretes that none were supposed to find open partially to you, and even with names lost to time and passages censored beyond reparation, the curtain opens and opens until it finally breaks down; what should be obvious is clear now, this is no epic, this is war. Mémoire 0079 is about war, and all that truly implies. A tragedy of the people forced to take part it ill. The deaths of countless with the only purpose to throw around the blame to a supposed terrible enemy. The perversion and the propaganda. The ones truly behind it all. It is a conflict grander beyond any imaginable limit, not in the way because it’s worth it or it defines justice or rights, but because so much it’s lost it is incomprehensible, and that only makes it easier for lies and narratives to spur out. It stops being a game, a story, and starts feeling more like a documentary, a peep behind the veil of this galaxy rotten by those in power and lies of nameless CEO’s, but also the turmoil of those that have to fight it.
I need you to be a person. I need to hear your voice
It’s gripping in all the best ways, it makes you livid in all of the best ways, it’s unlike anything I’ve read in a very long time, only moments are only made better by the fantastic music and visual accompaniment. It nails that particular feeling that it goes for and rebels in it, it isn’t about any real occurrence, yet some parts feel like I could have read them in a news outlet with some changes, and I think that says it all. I wish I could go even deeper, not only to know more about this world, but also being able to explore every possible theme, everything it has to say, which it is a lot, but me merely describing everything would be a disservice, it deserved to be read and experienced, it’s a step on a really bright direction, a wonderful story on its own merits, and one that it has so, so much to uncover.
Even if it’s not perfect and some parts do drag a bit and don’t end up really adding much, it deserved to be called and achievement, and if any of the team members get to read this, any compliment would fall short of describing what was accomplished, it was utterly fantastic, and now more than any time, it feels like a game that it needed to be made.
Mémoire 0079 alone isn’t gonna change the state of warlike gaming in the slightest, but it’s a showing of how there’s hope, that time to time we can get a work that proves the industry at large wrong, that there are stories that can and should be told.
Of the pain that must be endured.
Here we are, you and me