The creators of this game grew up in Sarajevo siege and spend time to gather stories of civilians during that and other modern conflicts. They then created the video game of the same name. The elements of that game were ported over to this game, which I participated in as a Kickstarter. I did that because of the stories told of others who also lived through those type of situations having cathartic moments they lived through and are able to work out those hidden scars.
The game is a storytelling puzzle game where there are three characters all the players control. Ultimate control of the characters pass from player to player during the phases representing a day in the lives of the characters. The decisions made by the players will hopefully be the right ones to provide enough food, water, rest, and protection characters and the house. Things can be made, with the right components. The house can be cleared to put those things being made. At night, you have to have characters be on guard to protect what you have and determine if you need to send your people out for needed supplies because during the day soldiers are shooting at whatever moves in the streets.
When decisions are made, there is either a mechanism to determine the results or you have to look up a passage in the book of scripts. This is where the narrative comes from and the stories from those who have lived it.
You "win" the game by making it to the end of the siege with at least one of the original characters and with a low level of misery. You lose by having anything else happen. It is not a game to be played too often but something that should be played often enough, as a reminder of what people go through when civilians are caught in the middle of a conflict.
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