Summary
May was a packed month for indie games, which is great if you love indies, but bad for developers. In a single month, we saw the launches ofHades 2,Animal Well,Crow Country,Indika, andLorelei and the Laser Eyes, all of which are smaller games from independent developers without huge marketing budgets behind them. Hades 2 is probably the best known one of these, as a double-A sequel to one of the most acclaimed roguelikes of all time, and Animal Well was published by YouTuber Dunkey which gave it some pre-release buzz. It’s also fantastic, which definitely helps if you’re an indie.
I love that for them, but that means that a lot of the smaller games that launched around the same time haven’t gotten the love they deserve from the masses. While they picked up some traction with players who were already on the lookout for cool, innovative indie games, you’re not likely to see as many people talking about them online as you will for Hades 2. While many of the games I’ve already listed have been sorely overlooked (I’ve already written aboutIndikaandLorelei and the Laser Eyes), the one I’m most salty about is1000xResist.
I need to preface this by saying that I haven’t finished the game, but I’m already impressed enough with it that I feel compelled to tell everyone to play it. 1000xResist is a futuristic sci-fi game with a strong story, one that resonates with me as a product of the Asian diaspora myself.
You are Watcher, one of six ‘sisters’ leading a civilisation of clones. The game opens with you literally stabbing her in the back, full of rage, and then zooms back in time. As you play through the game, you have ‘communions’ with the other sisters that give you insight into the life of the godlike Allmother you were cloned from when she was a mere teenage human, allowing you to see how she became the figure you now all revere. Why did you kill her? What did you discover that was so horrible you decided she had to die? All becomes clear, eventually.
Myth-Destroying Through Time And Space
These communions are the core of the story. You enter reconstructions of the Allmother’s memory, but you are reminded that you can only see whatshewants you to see. You see the way she treated the friends who loved her, the small cruelties she so easily inflicted, the way she turned away from her parents who were ostensibly doing the best they could, but who in turn inflicted small cruelties on her.
These memories, of her friends, her parents, and more, help you piece together a story of who shereallywas before she became the Allmother, and you realise that she wasn’t really a good person. The environments turn dreamlike, allowing you to pull yourself through space and time, seeing not just her own memories but those of the people around her, like her parents. 1000xResist deftly dissects the mythology it builds around this mysterious figure, showing you both how others make excuses for Iris and how you could view her in a significantly less charitable light.
Worldbuilding Cranked To 11
Even just through speaking to other characters, you pick up on the unfamiliar phrases parroted by your sisters and learn to pick them apart to understand what they represent. Hekki Allmo, hair to hair, red to blue – these strange sayings all have meanings, and learning where they come from is a fascinating journey in itself. What strange things do we repeat mindlessly in our own lives, taking them as gospel without thinking?
It’s because 1000xResist feels so close to reality that its worldbuilding holds up so well. Iris’ memories are familiar to me because of our similar cultural backgrounds, but mythology is also still well and alive in our modern society. Modern religion exists, after all, but we put people on pedestals for anything nowadays. How are mythologies built around our gods, leaders, celebrities, even our CEOs? How do we decide what to believe? How is history revised in real time? How does evil worm its way into our lives without us knowing, and how do we rise up against it? These are difficult questions to answer, yet this game attempts it and, from what I’ve seen so far, it’s succeeding. 1000xResist is a revolution, in too many ways to count.
1000xRESIST
WHERE TO PLAY
The three time IGF award nominated 1000xRESIST is a thrilling sci-fi adventure. 1000 years in the future, humanity is all but extinguished and a disease spread by an alien occupation keeps the survivors underground. You are Watcher. You dutifully fulfil your purpose in service of the ALLMOTHER, until the day you learn a shocking secret that changes everything.In the near future, a mysterious alien race of giant entities arrives. We call them the Occupants.They are not hostile, but it doesn’t matter. Their arrival is a death sentence. Humanity is wiped out in a matter of months, succumbing to a disease the Occupants have brought to our planet.A teenage girl called Iris is the only survivor. Somehow she is not only immune but also becomes immortal.1000 years later, Iris has birthed a new society consisting exclusively of her own clones.She calls them Sisters. They call her the ALLMOTHER. They live safe in the Orchard, an underground bunker, whilst Iris wages war on the Occupants.But all is not well. Your closest sister, Fixer, comes to you with a dangerous revelation. You have been lied to. The ALLMOTHER is not what she claims to be. After Fixer is executed for treason, it falls to you to discover the truth.
