There is an unusual line Outriders that certainly sounds like a reference to the failed January 6 insurrection in Washington, DC According to the game’s editor, any connections you could make there are “purely coincidental.”
Developed by People Can Fly and published by Square Enix, the class shooter Outriders officially released last week for everything except Switch. In the future – you will never believe that – “Earth [is] dead ”, ruined by war and famine and any other apocalyptic turbulence that tends to serve as a dressing in the sci-fi novels of airport kiosks. To preserve humanity, Earth’s governments unite and fund a colonial ship that will carry thousands of survivors to a habitable planet, Enoch, about a dozen light-years away.
You are thrown as a titular outrider, a weapon-armed badass tasked with exploring Enoch before the rest of the settlers leave the safe confines of the ship. For the first 30 minutes, you are betrayed, seriously injured, caught in an energy storm, tied to supernatural powers, and trapped in a cryogenic chamber. You wake up three decades later and you’re all like “What fuuuuu …” In short, you find an old friend, Jakub, who needs a moment to recognize you, but it’s also “What fuuuu.” .. ”And then you go on adventures.
An early mission – “Reunion”, which can also be played in the game’s free meaty demo – features some stuttering between your character and Jakub, the two reminiscing about the good old days of killing people on Earth.
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You: “I have a major deja vu in this place. It reminds me that the mission is Damascus, where we rescued those diplomats. ”
Jakub: “I had to save your ass from that mob that handled machetes.”
You: “Ha! More than then, I had to save your bad ass from that red mob attacking DC. “
You would not be wrong to believe that this line is a reference to the failed coup attempt that was stirred by the Republican political leadership. On January 6, thousands of supporters of twice charged President Donald Trump rushed the US Chapter with the apparent intention of overturning the legitimate election results. Five people died. In the coming weeks, two officers he died by suicide. (Although the authorities are currently searching and arrest civilians who stormed the Chapter, no Republican party leader has faced serious legal repercussions so far.)
When you are contacted for comment by Kotaku, representatives for Square Enix and People Can Fly said: “I wrote and recorded the script for Outriders a few years ago and all its aspects are completely fictional and are related to the background of the game. Any resemblance to real world events is purely coincidental. “
So here he is.
In retrospect, assumptions that Outriders would refer to the events from the beginning of 2021 that would have been moved. The revolt, to resume, took place on January 6 Outriders demo was made available on February 25th. Any facet of game production, ruined in a pandemic, is a thorough process. The People Can Fly team is undoubtedly full of talent, but given the complicated certifications that games have to go through before launch, we imagine that making a change at 11am is not a cake.
But you can also get what’s obvious from the game’s tradition. Outriders may not have the best dialogue (single liner selected: “I thought this was the bathroom.” [kills dudes]), but that does not mean that decent writing is missing. It’s just that most good things – building the world, mostly – exist on the margins.
Immerse yourself in the Journal menu and you will find out Outriders begins in 2159, the first year on Enoch. You will also find that the journey to Enoch did not begin until the mid-2070s. Although your character is imbued with longevity, superpowers and all the jazz, such benefits are the result of events that fell on Enoch. They are at most 40 years old, and that is a very generous estimate from me. (Square, throw Outriders skin care routine, please!) Following the timeline, it’s virtually impossible for your outrider to be alive in 2021, let alone conscious and tied enough to survive a “red-necked mob.” ”.
It’s fun to imagine your fiction Outriders presents a unique line that refers to a disgruntled insurrection that led to tragedy, but the notion is apparently just a fantasy. This is a contrast to the real reality we live in, where such things can happen without any apparent repercussions for those who set them in motion.