FaulknerвЂ™s inherent MДЃori experience also provided a relevant framework: вЂYouвЂ™ve got an invasive force coming into your home that is everywhere, and you canвЂ™t look in a single direction without seeing it. As development continued, events such as the impact of COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd added fuel. Thematically, UmurangiвЂ™s inspirations spur from the 2020 Australian bushfires and the governmental mismanagement of it, the apathy from those affected, and the trend of talking around the root of the problemвЂ“climate change. Faulkner expands: вЂWhat I wanted to do with was to explore those very specific ideas of what makes a fascist population.вЂ™

The game works around the idea that fascist tendencies can coagulate around any one of a number of different traits вЂ“ disdain for women, the obsession with a plot to create a threat, or religious extremism to name a few. Umurangi Generation works around the idea that fascism is malleable and can coagulate around any one of a number of different traits вЂ“ disdain for women, the obsession with a plot to create a threat, or religious extremism to name a few.ДЇor Naphtali Faulkner, an Australian-based NgДЃi Te Rangi designer, itвЂ™s the challenge of identifying this neo-fascist omnipresence that inspired his 2020 game, Umurangi Generation and its additional chapters entitled Macro. But to do so in games вЂ“ a medium where the audience expects to engage and scrutinise the work for multiple hours вЂ“ seems daunting to say the least. To create art that portrays and addresses this complex beast properly is no small task. It canвЂ™t simply be identified by symbols and uniforms anymore and in some instances, weвЂ™re still trying to convince people that the problem exists at all. For those in the Western world, weвЂ™re seemingly still in the midst of trying to get a grip on this ever-evolving homunculus of rising neo-fascist sentiment. So itвЂ™s only natural that our reality begins to be reflected through our screen art, too.

Our world has long been one where first-world dictators clog news feeds, and the vision of civil unrest consistently comes through our televisions and timelines.

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