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Friday 16 February, 2018
In my last play through, I got introduced to Ali who exemplifies the violent aspirations of the revolution. He rejects the fact that violence should be avoided, and shows a lot of hate for the people who work for the current regime. While Babak, on the other hand, shows sympathy for the works of the regime calling them oppressed as well. He notes that they have to do whatever they can to support their families. It will be interesting to see how their rivalry and differing viewpoints advance in the story.
As I said in a previous log, the game leans on the same mechanics as Telltale’s adventure games. This includes the moral side of things, where you are given choices and told that other characters will remember it. One thing I noticed is that a lot of the time these choices have very little short-term effect. For example, dialogue often results in the same response line or action no matter what, giving you the illusion of choice. I’m sure these will cascade in the end though as you get different endings depending on the results of previous chapters. That said, this does kind of feel weird as a player.
This play through had a lot of focus on violence and its place in revolution. Personally, I think it is good to minimize this as much as possible. Revolutions often criticize those in charge for their cruelty and insensitivity to other’s lives. However, if the revolution resorts to murder and heavy violence, in many ways we just replace one tyrant with another. One who just emphasizes different qualities in his government, but with the same authoritarian flair. I think if a revolution instead relies on changing people’s minds and hearts, it will do better. This can be seen in the game where some of the military refuse to use lethal force or exert much force at all due to them disagreeing with the government. The government can be overthrown for this, as it only has power in so much as it has support. That said, violence in response to violence from the government’s military could be required or important as a government lashes out before dying. I’m excited to see how these issues evolve in the story going forward.
Another portion of the game returns you to the interrogation. Here you are asked what you know about Bibi. She is a character that is part of the revolution working with Raza, who was betrayed in the last section. While interrogated, you watch your brother be tortured in order to force answers out of you. This represents another interesting moral dilemma, as potentially the information could be damning to the revolution if shared, and that could have far-reaching consequences. But in order to not share it you have to watch your brother be tortured, causing him immense pain. This pits the wellbeing of everyone against the wellbeing of those close to you. This is an interesting situation, and would definitely be a difficult choice for many people to make. In my play through I avoided giving as much info as I could, but as a player I’m far removed from having that character actually be my brother.
This brings my game logs to an end. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this game. I do plan on putting a lot more time into the game in the next week to prepare for my OPA. I don’t feel that I have played enough yet for that, but I do have a good feel for the game and the themes it will explore. I really liked this game so far.
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