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.