Indian Games: A Rant
Games from India needs more focused attention to the culturally specific aspects of India. I think a global audience will not be upset by it. However, the indies in India are scared (understandably) that India cannot be a topic of their games. Thus, we are stuck with games that are made by Indian indies but are themed in Western Gard, or games with Indian Aesthetics that are made by wildly expensive studios with themes that align with the nationalist extremist views of the government.
Well no doomerism here's three games from India that touch upon different aspects of the lives of Indians:-
Nobody Knows For Certain: This is an interactive fiction mixed with an art archive. It is set against the backdrop of 70s Cold War era India when Soviet Russia used to export various kinds of books at considerably cheap prices. A country just out of brutal colonial regime with citizens still not as wealthy, those books were life source of entertainment. The game explores storytelling itself as a subversive act and how tales transform through space-time-culture-politics. And especially how history itself is not a prose non-fiction rather an embroidered tapestry. Also, bonus point: the game is an archive of books from the era.
The Indifferent Wonder of an Edible Place: One of the most prescient works of art that deserves far more recognition and acknowledgement. A piece that ruminates on the violence of cultural erasures under ignorant, self-serving political machinations. And the grief and hurt and confusion that comes at the cost of the personal. Framed as an adaptation of the fictional Mir UmarHassan's poetry, the game uses surreality to blend between the Colonial Past of India and the Fascist Present of India to highlight the aching process through which governments use and abuse the cultural heritages, and eras in mere seconds. And especially how the citizens themselves are made complicit in their own excision.
The Palace on the Hill: A heartwarming farming-sim esque game which sees you in the shoes of a budding Indian boy. A game that stands as the diametric opposite to Stardew Valley. Instead of giving up a city life and moving to the rural world as a utopia, this game portrays the reality of small town Indians. All of whom are devoid of the opportunities especially if they have artistic intentions. The farming sim isn't a privileged act rather an obstacle through which the protagonist can find road to the life he dreams of.
I have written a lot. I'll stop here before I start screaming. If you play any of these games let me know. Hope you all have a nice day.
