What Remains, 8-bit critical fiction game

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In our globalised space and time, media rarely completely die, but has peaks of use, ages, is being dismissed, and then rediscovered and eventually used again, or reinvented. 8-bit aesthetics and technicality floats in some of these statuses, and occasionally is adopted, even clamorously as in the case of prof. Nick Montfort recently using a Commodore 64 for his visuals during a public lecture. “What Remains” by Iodine Dynamics (Arnaud Guillon, Chun Lee, Dustin Long, Aymeric Mansoux and Marloes de Valk) is an 8-bit game for the popular NES console, encoding real event from the 80s in a plot to save the world. We can consider it a piece of interactive fiction, covering a wide range of topics, including crucial environmental issues, the propaganda manipulation of public opinion, and whistleblowing, too. The mixture of a retro aesthetics and setting with current urgent topics creates a specific and very original mood. Surely appealing to an older generation it short circuits memories of an easier time (was it?) and critical thinking, in an excellent synthesis.

 

Iodine Dynamics – What Remains