My random thoughts, having just completed it.
This isn’t about sex, or violence. It is about the mindset that dehumanises people. That others them, so they can be killed and exploited. and, further (to my mind), about how that is done to other species, and nature. It’s about oppression and resistance to it. It’s a world taken to the extremes of fascism, racism, speciesism, capitalism, settler colonialism. How evil gets justified and institutionalised. Life becomes product.
As such, I took it as criticism of all the evils of the worst governments. I think of Israel, and how their media, press and government continually refer to Palestinians as “animals”, and have for the 75 years they have been stealing their land for a Western colony, and committing genocide. As the US did with native Americans, and Australia with Aboriginal Australians. As the British did again and again. As Europe did. All of which support, arm and defend Israel’s genocide today, whilst persecuting those who oppose genocide. No wonder US companies won’t publish this.
It is an obscene farm run by the pervert Donald Trump. His friends (perverted priests and vets) might as well be Epstein and Prince Andrew.
It reminds me of many other things. The horror of The Tank / La Cisterna (terrific Italian novel by Nicola Lombardi), crossed with Animal Farm.
The graphics for the countryside are beautiful, often photo-realistic mono that brings to mind the game Betrayer. The figures less so (why are their forearms and legs apparently burnt and scarred?)
It’s the kind of game that should be made, which makes it all the more pronounced that Steam and Epic won’t publish it. Both US outfits which allow endless violence and exploitation in games, but will not allow sex or a naked human body! That’s American perspectives for ya, priorities twisted to fuck.
I think I’ll stop buying games directly on Steam, as I stopped buying on GOG when they refused to publish Devotion (an excellent horror game, by the way, and worth buying direct from the Red Candle site). I’ll just buy keys from Humble and Fanatical, which means I still get GOG and Steam games, but without any money (or less money) going to GOG and Steam.
Worth experiencing, for sure. And it’s worth supporting the developers who tried to do something innovative, resisting authoritarianism in an increasingly authoritarian world.
And as to the “controversy”? The only controversy is that it’s about evil which is in charge of many countries at the moment. Resisting oppressive governments and cultures is difficult.
As an aside, I tried it in Linux first. It ran fine, except none of the FMVs work – just blank space. I had to boot into Windows (something I do once every six months, and detest!) to play it properly. I also wish it allowed arrow-key controls: some of us find WASD really awkward and never use it as a control scheme if we can help it.