Samiee Tee

My mom always used to call video games “commercial art.” A copy of a copy of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, cut out of an introductory textbook and used as a template for an Etsy listing, the centerpiece of a coffee shop, or a commentary in framing. For me, I’ve always been one to defend video games stature as “art”. It’s a tale as old as Pong, with both sides bolstering their argument with equal amounts of passion and derision, although in its infancy, both sides still lack maturity.

Concealed in a lot of anti-war messages is this “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” nature. There’s not a lot of genuine empathy for the characters involved for a lot of it, even if they do harbor genuine regret at the actions brought forth by the powers that be from the beginning. Still, it’s always a place to showcase the damage done to its soldiers, and CONSCRIPT is no exception. CONSCRIPT is the debut title from Catchweight Studio and the brainchild of solo developer Jordan Mochi.

Let me preface this review by stating that it was a weird experience. It’s been a while since I’ve been a spectator of so many peaks, valleys, troughs to trawl through, and clarity to connect the dots. If anything, I’ve left the Dungeons of Hinterberg a changed individual, and whether that’s a good thing? Well, I guess we’ll see. This is the debut title from Austrian-based developers Microbird, who’ve made Dungeons of Hinterberg as a love letter to their country of origin.