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Velvet 89 is a free hidden object game that tells the story of the 1989 Czechoslovakian revolutionCrowd-sourced
Crowd-sourced
Image credit:Charles Games
Image credit:Charles Games
Velvet 89is a free hidden object game that tells the story of communist Czechoslovakia’s “Velvet Revolution” in 1989, which brought an end to 41 years of one-party rule and led to the founding of a parliamentary republic. The game released earlier this month, and you can find it onSteam, iOS and Android. I know nothing about the Velvet Revolution, but I do have some quick thoughts on the use of a format I associate with Where’s Wally to capture a process of extraordinary political change.
Velvet 89 is the work of Charles Games, creators ofAttentat 1942. It explores five protests in four cities, moving from “cautious ecology-themed protests” to the “moments before police brutally attacked a peaceful demonstration”. Each chapter is introduced with a mix of captions and archive footage, and consists of a zoomable view of the crowd, rendered in “a style reminiscent of paper cut-outs”. There’s some gentle animation and an enveloping burble of background noise, but the scene is overall static.
The first thing I noticed is that everybody is looking up at the viewer, as though you were some local governor who has appeared on a balcony to address the citizens. It’s interestingly eerie. Also eerie: nobody has a face. I’m not sure how I feel about this, but Velvet 89 seems to be trying for a balance of connection and impersonality, rediscovering individuals while keeping the emphasis on the collective and the community.
