“And the riot be the rhyme of the unheard”

December 8, 2017 11:22 AM

RIOT - Civil Unrest [YouTube][Gameplay Trailer] “In 2013, Riot - Civil Unrest was announced by developer Merge Games and went on to have a successful Indiegogo campaign. Four years later the game has finally arrived on Steam Early Access. Riot is a real-time riot simulator that puts you in control of either a large group of rioters or the police. As the rioters, you attempt to hold a position or reach a specified destination. As the police, it’s your job to hold back or disperse the crowd. Riot was an interesting idea back in 2013, and it now holds even more weight with 2018 on the horizon. Set in real world political conflicts like The Arab Spring, the game establishes the context for each riot prior to jumping in. However, it doesn’t do much beyond telling you what happened or what strides have been made as a result.” [via: Kotaku]

• Playing the Arab Spring in Riot - Civil Unrest [Eurogamer]

“January 25th, 2011. Tahrir Square. Riot likes to draw its scenarios from the real world, and the Egyptian campaign is the stand-out for me so far. I have yet to play as the security forces here, because I cannot work myself up to it. Instead I play as the people kicking off the Egyptian revolution. Or trying to, anyway. Riot puts you in charge of a huge crowd in Tahrir Square, and it also divides that crowd into a series of distinct squads, which you can move around individually. You can tell them where to move to, and you can tell them whether to be defensive or offensive - although you may lose control over this choice as things start to go south. Before you play, you can choose a selection of things to bring with you to help out. Megaphones allow you to regroup, boosting attention and discipline. Social media allows you to call in reinforcements. There are things to lessen the impact of tear gas. Then there are things like Molotovs. The security forces get their own options, of course, and those options are equally imprecise and given to creating unforeseen consequences. Even on harder difficulties I tend to leave the Molotovs at home.”

• Is it fun to beat protesters and molotov the police in Riot - Civil Unrest? [Destructoid]

“During my brief time with the game I chose to play as the police, which consists of a variety of units like the ones you'd find in an RTS (which makes sense as the game controls similarly to your modern ones). As I advanced my officers towards the crowd of angry protesters they reacted in real time, walking backwards and bunching up just like what would happen in real life. The developer stressed that the AI was going to react as realistically as possible during our session: if you instruct one unit to get violent, others nearby react in the same way, as do their opponents. When I first approached the game, I thought I'd be having fun being an asshole as the police:shooting tear gas into the ground, hitting people with nightsticks, and just being all around evil. But that wasn't the case. Yes, I was doing those things and they weren't fun, but I don't think they needed to be. At first glance Riot certainly looks like it would be silly, with pixel graphics much like Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery, but instead it ends up being a lesson on how and why riots become violent.”

• Exploring real-life protests in Riot: Civil Unrest [Zam]

“Actually, reactions are pretty random among all the players that I've seen playing so far. Some people are very pro-police, and can't wait to beat the shit out of the crowd; others can't wait to throw molotov cocktails and literally destroy the police faction; others want to tactically use their police forces to disperse or control the crowd in the least violent way possible; while some want to peacefully reach their objective while keeping their own crowd under control without any use of violence. So far we're pretty excited to see that these are the main directions that people have been taking. All of this is going to be hell to balance once that more and more players are going to be on board (especially for only 2 people), but the concept is working, and we hope that we can make it function properly till the end, without taking sides, but most of all, without limiting the player's decisions in any way.”

posted by Fizz (7 comments total)

Oh goodie! Since the lack of competent healthcare in the USA has made it so difficult for me to physically be involved in smashing the state, now I can live out my fantasy of actually making a political impact through a video game!

Seriously though, I think that's honestly a very real aspect of why healthcare never got "fixed." The people can't riot if they are all sick and broken.

Thankfully for all gamers who are "rioting" it won't end with a military junta that ends with your bloody head on a stick, as it usually has seemed to end lately for people standing up for their rights.

Boot of fascism, meet the face of humanity, and unlock achievements.

Also, are there lootboxes? Tell me there's lootboxes with various bandanas, pepper spray, molotov's, MRAP's, and warrants.

Haha I'm just kidding, no one uses warrants.
posted by deadaluspark at 11:31 AM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

Can't wait to train up my own crew of antifa supersoldiers! I wish there were (or that I was aware of) more games that allowed you to take control of a lefty activist organization. Liberal Crime Squad really needs a sequel, spiritual or otherwise.
posted by coolname at 11:35 AM on December 8, 2017

If I play as the Police, do I get to plant infiltrators on the crowd side, who are there to do something that justifies the Police using lethal force?
posted by Thorzdad at 11:44 AM on December 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

Wonder if it includes mob physics...fun fact: in normal crowds, individual humans behave almost exactly like molecules in a gas. During a mob people behave like the molecules in a liquid (tumbling dangerously over one another)...it's literally a state change.
If it does include mob physics then you can count me out, because I've already been there, and done that, and no thanks. Too scary.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:48 AM on December 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

If I play as the Police, do I get to plant infiltrators on the crowd side, who are there to do something that justifies the Police using lethal force?

Paid DLC $$$.
posted by Fizz at 11:52 AM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

Looking forward to see the existence of this being in someone's game library being grounds for their conviction.
posted by srboisvert at 1:40 PM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't know, honestly this seems kind of fun, and I say this as someone who will no doubt get it used against me at my inevitable rounding up by the state.
posted by corb at 8:27 PM on December 8, 2017