Unfortunately, I think it was just a lack of awareness that the petition in existed in certain countries where Ross just didn’t have enough reach, possibly due to language barriers. A big push from native speakers of those countries with large audiences, like streamers, could’ve pushed it over the edge.
The first part seems to be for people who are unfamiliar with the games. The political analysis begins at 19 minutes.
The games go into:
Discussion of monopolies, how they are used to exploit, and how they use state force to maintain their position to prevent competition
The Carrot character is an anarchist in the first game, who infiltrates the weather factory of the second game to document the exploitation of its workers. He then gives the player a quiz about US economics so that you can infiltrate a board of directors, but when he becomes a member of the board himself, becomes a liberal reformist.
In the third game, the devs put an easter egg only accessible by editing a config file with an obscure code, which adds police branded riot gear to the marching fascist candy soldiers, in a reference to the 1999 Seattle WTO Protests.
I really like the premise, though if I might suggest, y’all might want to tweak that trailer so the intense movie trailer music doesn’t stop abruptly towards the end.
You can play the game here on Archive.org, or you can download a copy from that page and play it in DOSBox Staging.
Here’s all the physical documentation you’ll need, such as the short story, how to play manual, and an in-world map (you’ll have to draw your own, but it’ll give you a rough idea of the land. If you find map making tedious, you could use a map someone else made).
It’s an old text adventure from the 80’s with a particularly cool and oddly relevant concept: You take the role of an AI that’s been meticulously raised in a simulation to truly become a general intelligence. The reason this project was undertaken was to eventually send you, the AI, into other simulations based in the near future to test the outcomes of various political policies of the new republican government, record your interactions, and report back to the engineers who created you.
The game’s designer said that he created the game in response to the despair he felt from Ronald Reagan being elected.
I haven’t gotten super far in it, but it has an incredibly well written short story in the manual that details all the events leading up to the start of the game, and so far the game itself is unlike anything else I’ve ever played.
That’s already hours in, and it was only getting more ridiculous. I had a looksee at Yatzhee’s old review of it, and he confirmed my feelings on it, and said it got even worse later. I may watch a let’s play of it at some point, but I just wasn’t having fun, so I’m unlikely to pick it up again, personally. Just doesn’t have the magic…
I just tried new colossus yesterday, actually, and I was surprised how big of a dive the writing took compared to the first game, I had to stop when the resistance guy bursts out of bathroom during that really forced emotional scene in the sub.
I loved the first game and the old blood dlc, so was a bit of a bummer :(
When I played the first game, I eventually become a bit annoyed at how some systems worked, such as how frequently henry became hungry, so I downloaded a mod that extended the time between meals, which made the experience a bit more realistic and less annoying.
Though on the topic of degrading equipment, I kinda like shoes wearing out of it’s not too frequent, because for some odd reason I find it enjoyable to have to plan trips around such limitations 😄
I went outside of my usual wheelhouse and tried playing some of the Wario games for the gameboy advance. Finished Warioware in one afternoon (very fun short little collection of mini games) and currently on Wario Land 4. It’s a platformer with light puzzle elements, and I’m quite surprised at how much I’ve been enjoying it, as I usually don’t mesh with platformers.
In a way, it reminds me of one of the later Commander Keen games, but with much better level design and variety in gameplay.
It’s a polished and quirky little game, and its handheld roots lend itself to short sessions, which has been all I have time for.
I think I’ll be investigating the earlier entries after I complete it. Certainly recommend it if you have access to a handheld emulator!
Excellent story perfectly meshed with the gameplay.
A strange high-technology medieval world.
Incredible level design combined with realistic roughly drawn maps, forcing you to take in your surroundings and build your own map.
Variety of gameplay, ranging from infiltrating a rich baron’s mansion to rob them blind, to delving into ancient crypts filled with odd creatures and an alien culture for some adventurous tomb raiding, to some of the most terrifying pants filling survival horror I’ve yet encountered.