Umurangi Generation

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Umurangi Generation for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[Jobobonobo]

Photography as a primary mechanic in videogames is something I have never tried before and as someone who does enjoy photo taking as a hobby made this an especially intriguing game to try out. I really got into it straight away where if I did not get all targets done within 10 minutes I would instantly restart and try again. The variety of lens with their own quirks add to the challenge and keep the gameplay interesting. The telephoto lens was easily the most challenging one to deal with as it would require you to find the perfect spot to get the required photo. Those ten solar panels in level 2 were a nightmare to deal with and were a sign that this game was not all going to be smooth sailing. But when you got that shot, it did feel great and now I could gain greater mastery of the stage this shot was in.

What I feel is especially worthy of praise is the soundtrack. I love the gritty electronica, garage, hip-hop and many more genres that infuse this game. Just really added to the atmosphere greatly and made spending time in this world a joy despite the bleak oppressive setting. Kind of reminds me of the sort of stuff you would hear in the menu of PS1 demo discs back in the day, which is a musical vibe not often captured in modern gaming. One thing that really got me off guard however was that it felt like I reached the end of the game in no time. I took my picture of the mighty Kaiju and then the credits appeared which made me think “Wait, that’s it??” Thankfully there is also the Macro DLC which appears right after which I was glad for as I was enjoying myself a great deal and was not ready to fully be done with it. My only real complaint I have is that the film canisters are really annoying to find and even in levels where there are not too many, I felt like I scoured every corner of the level and could not find them. This pixel hunting got a bit too tedious and detracted from the otherwise compelling photography gameplay. Besides that, I felt Umurangi Generation is a title with its own voice and a unique premise that is made with obvious love and care and got me to appreciate photography as a videogame mechanic on a much deeper level. It exemplifies the kind of artistic freedom the best of the indie scene can produce.

TWR: Phenomenal Punk Photography

[KarlDaFrog]

Umurangi Generation is a brilliant game with searing politics. Veselekov, the developer, has made a biting commentary on Western disaster response and media in a world where the truth just isn’t as profitable. Of course, points and profit isn’t really what the game is about, it’s about witnessing the end of the world and how you would express yourself while it happens.

And that's great, it's such an awesome game I that I am so glad exists. But it's really not the game I needed when I played around 2021. I wanted to sit in a colorful world and vibe with a bunch of camera parameters as a kind of training for my budding real life photography hobby. But what I got was a far more harsh reflection of reality than I wanted. Armed guards, abandoned buildings, n95 masks, all present in the alien invasion of Aotearoa, and all right outside my short term rental in a locked down Sydney during the pandemic. I finished the main game but couldn’t stomach the even more fatalist near-future DLC. I switched to the cheerier escapism of another photography, game Toem.

Shout out to the in-game arcade game “Leftist Infighting”. That’s a classic.

TWR: Current Cutting Camerawork