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Review
This is one of several games entered into this competition translated from other languages, in this case Spanish, although I didn't see it entered in any Spanish competitions in the past year, so it is fresh to me.
This game consists of three vignettes set in Israel, America, and Palestine.
Before going into deeper spoilers, I'll mention the general idea of each section. In the first, you wake up in Tel Aviv where darkness has completely covered the sky. You can investigate by walking through different neighborhoods of Tel Aviv and hope to discover the truth.
In the second, you are Donald Trump, waking up in Mar-a-Lago after a night of excess.
In the third, you are a father in Gaza, and it is your daughter's birthday.
The game is explicitly political with some clear messages but parts are open to interpretation.
With more spoiler detail:
(Spoiler - click to show)In the first section, you discover an impenetrable black dome around Tel Aviv, and Benjamin Netanyahu turns into a bear. In the second, you, Donald Trump, are turned into a bear and deposed. And in the third, the daughter gets her birthday cake and two wishes. Prior to the wishes, she is seen tormenting black beetles by covering them with a black bowl, and playing with bears using Trump's voice. It's clear the first two scenarios are the result, whether real or imagined, of her wishes.I received less than half of the possible points in the game, which are given for exploration, so I likely missed out on some interesting chunks.
One notable line that stood out to me:
(Spoiler - click to show)Suddenly, a bunch of arms are around you. They are your cooks, your guards, your cleaning ladies, your chauffeurs.... All of them, together like a small army of vengeful Latinos, lift you up on their heads, singing and laughing, celebrating the end of your tyranny, of years of mistreatment and abuse of power.While parts of it are clear wish fulfillment (literally) with fantasies shared by millions, the other parts are sad reflections of war. (Spoiler - click to show)The daughter, living in a world of starvation and death, caused by her enemies, now sees her enemies as inhuman and deserving of torture and death, perpetuating the endless cycle of hatred. It's a sad commentary.
