Oh Umurangi Generation, a game that absolutely astounds me. I knew very little about the game before I played it, I remember watching a video mentioning the game, but I’ve completely forgotten it. Having now played through it, I would say its nearly perfect, as it just needs a thick layer of polish for it to truly become perfect. I’ll elaborate on that soon though. I do think Umurangi Generaion is not a game that everyone will end up enjoying, its gameplay is something I see not everyone enjoying, but I implore you, please stick through with it, to the very end. I think the story, themes, and messaging are completely worth experiencing.
I want to start out with the game’s negatives here, there aren’t many of them, but I think it helps to start with them first before going into the game’s strengths. Particularly this goes off to what I said in the prior paragraph, about how the game needs a ‘thick layer of polish’. Specifically, the game is just buggy. A lot of collisions function incorrectly, for example I often found myself launched high up into the air whenever climbing up certain ramps or stairs. I also clipped through a wall while going backwards up a set of stairs once, and fell to a lower floor. This is all combined with persistent collision issues throughout the entire game made walking through each area of the game just feel… odd. I also have an issue with how sometimes you have to be extremely close to objects when having to photograph them. Most of the time its at least fine, but there was one where you had to snap a moving object that only appears once every 30 seconds or so, and it became frustrating cause having to be as close as I was did feel frustrating to say the least.
But getting into the game itself, as was implied by my mention of it prior, the main gist of the game is taking photographs of things. And I was completely enamored by this throughout the entire game. You had different lenses, you can rotate the camera, and can edit the photo in many different ways (though you have to unlock each upgrade as you progress through the game). This freedom to take photos that you can edit freely, though sometimes having to fit certain criteria is wonderful. There are some bonus objectives as well for you to photograph as well which I really like. It allows you to see and explore each location of the world, and experience the worldbuilding by finding it yourself. Instead of just being told what the state of the world is like, you learn it by seeing it yourself, exploring the world and seeing it firsthand.
And this ties into the general story and themes of Umurangi Generation. I don’t want to go too in-depth into it, since that would ruin the magic of experiencing it for yourself. As I said before, I think it’s worth experiencing the story for yourself. But I will be clear as well, the game is not afraid to be in your face about it. It actively shouts it in your face aggressively, and it doesn’t leave any room for subtlety. While some could be upset with this, I think it’s absolutely the point to be aggressive, and be in your face. Revolution cannot be done subtly, it must be aggressive, and in your face. I can go on and on about how this game works storywise, but I think I best leave the rest unsaid.
If it isn’t already obvious, I heavily loved my time playing through Umurangi Generation. It’s unfortunate the game is still somewhat buggy, but if it ever gets polished, I do think it’d be a perfect videogame. I love the loop of photographing the world, and learning of the world through that. And I’ve already said my piece on how spectacular I think the story ended up being. I can’t help but try to implore whoever reads this to try the game out for yourself as well. This game is absolutely wonderful, and while I didn’t mention it, I also suggest getting the DLC as well. This is just a game that was a complete surprise to me, and I really enjoyed it.
