Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a somewhat unusual reflection for you all, as we check out the first segment of the recently released 1000xRESIST. I’ve heard nothing but effusive praise regarding this post-apocalyptic project, which apparently falls in that vaunted echelon of literary interactive media. As a lifelong gamer and an equally lifelong critic regarding the medium’s often limited aspirations, I’m always eager to check out the properties that strive for more than entertainment; putting agency in the audience’s hands is a remarkable way to foster a sense of connection and even responsibility towards a narrative, facilitating the emotional peaks of works like Nier Automata and The Beginner’s Guide. By all reports, 1000xRESIST is a similar gut-punch of an experience, so let’s not waste another moment, and get right into the drama!
Chapter 1
We open with that trailer sequence, of our player avatar “Watcher” apparently killing one of her “sisters.” Given the opening prayer, I would assume they’re both members of some holy martial order
Quite a sparse design sensibility, and it works. After years and years of games embracing an old-fashioned pixel art sensibility, I’m quite happy to see smaller releases embracing the aesthetics of my videogame childhood: the voluminous, evocative design of early 3D games. Love those strange, cavernous spaces
Voice acting is a touch unconvincing, though
Also quite like that I’m given a series of three possible responses, three concluding lines for which I have no context whatsoever. A fun take on the flash-forward cold open, with me deciding the culminating message of a journey I have not yet undertaken
“You stole our immunity, Mother. Why do you get to choose who lives and who dies?” So, generational trauma transposed across a post-apocalyptic scifi drama? Sounds good to me
Our opening controls-establishing walk sees us passing by a variety of distinctly clothed… clones, it seems? Presumably that feeds into this family theme as well, while also frankly being a pretty neat way to cut modeling costs
“If you want me gone, just do it already.” Having all these characters be sorta cells within a body does facilitate some immediate psychological interrogation
“There is no feeling so strong it is worth getting incinerated over.” The challenge to every child rebelling against a parent. Also, this one is apparently a “Knower,” while our “Watcher” presumably gathers data. Harsh divisions of duties are a smart way of discouraging rebellion
“I know better than to play with fire.” The “Healer” offers an echo of that image of our Watcher on fire
Interesting how easy it is to wander along the wrong path here. It’d be easy enough to temporarily seal these side paths – I wonder if the Watcher attempting to divert from her fate, and then reminding herself she has to do this, is actually a desired interaction? An interesting take on what can often feel like a frustratingly agency-denying interaction
My next sister is “Bang Bang Fire,” quite the name
“Just as Fixer ends her existence, a new life blooms for her on the Other Side.” So we’ve got both reincarnation and a potential afterlife to contend with, presumably all framed in the context of this Mother-deity’s designable, replaceable children
“A closed loop that only opens when the ALLMOTHER allows it.” Yep
“‘Don’t you dare come back?’ Why do they say that?” “Who knows. Some old thing.” Some old thing, huh? A charged yet vague explanation
“Time to help Mom kill some OCCUPANTS.” So they’ve found humanity outside of the purpose Mom assigned them, but must now deny it, since there is no alternative but service
And yes, this conversation confirms they’re all living underground, presumably in order to survive whatever Mother “stole their immunity” from. So I would guess she stole their immunity in order to force them into continuous service, to maintain her control over the greater population of her descendants?
We jump to our Watcher seemingly waking up in a classroom, bathed in red light as an alarm sounds. Their nest seems to intentionally echo old conventions of childhood; why would this future society employ old-fashioned, mid-20th-century wooden desks? Presumably because Mom wants it that way – because just as she is imprisoning these children, so too is she attempting to maintain a specific unchanging “present,” presumably whatever seemed normal to her prior to this state of affairs
“These memories belong to Her, and in here, you will not be yourself.” Ah, so we’re actually, literally delving through the mother’s memories
“Knower said people used to have names”
ALLMOTHER’s original name was Iris. Her phone recordings speak of mundane concerns of the old world, though with the suspicious inclusion of “going online to shop for a new personality.” Perhaps simply a turn of phrase?
“There must have been rampant theft.” “Or rampant distrust.” “I feel sorry for them.” A member of the collective cannot imagine the personal autonomy of our world. And I’m sure Mother likes it that way
See, this area uses conventional means of blocking access; that first alternative was clearly intentional
We run into a “grunt.” “I’m disposable.” “How does it feel to know you’ll outlast all of us?”
Watcher is astonished to learn that old humans leaked
“Each face is different.” “That’s how it used to go.” “Well that seems unnecessary.” I appreciate this game’s honest, almost charming portrayal of Watcher’s indoctrination
“The ALLMOTHER is blessed.” “Speaking in the third person, huh? With every passing day, your condition seems more like a curse.” These speakers seem nearly as temporally unfixed as Watcher herself. Setting up an intriguing portrait of Iris herself, an odd semi-messiah who is the vessel of a thousand selves
“I hope you’ve enjoyed your little excursion. You will not have another one.” So it seems at some point, Iris’ immunity to the disease led her to become a captive of whatever social order still existed, presumably so they could derive some cure or vaccine from her body
The rooftop bears a headless avatar floating in the sky, alongside candles lit for Jiao, presumably the girl that Iris was close to
“Did you get into that expensive school?” It seems Jiao died before the disease arrived. And also that she lives on in memory – for if we’re only experiencing what Iris lived through, then she must have had this imagined talk with her old friend as well
Apparently Jiao has some power within this world. Also, that massive avatar was an OCCUPANT
Even some students chose to swiftly worship the Occupants, and are now being quarantined. So is the disease a kind of faith? That definitely parallels Mother’s reign pretty well
It seems the disease manifests as infectious tears. Evocative; the Occupants inspire both worship and collective mourning, until nothing is left
“What you said about Jiao – it was highly inappropriate.” God, what did Iris do?
“You don’t always have a choice in your function. Be happy you have one.” Feels like there’s a level to this regarding diaspora parent-child relations that I’m ill-equipped to fully analyze. Happy to observe the best I can, though!
“Iris. Never have children. You don’t know what they’ll get up to.” Hah
After finding Jiao, she promises to “not tell anyone”
“When your parents discovered you had damaged the piano by accident, they hit you. After all, they were still paying for it.” Ooh, I love the sparse illustration of these little written Iris memories. Efficient, evocative writing is a rare gift – too few writers understand the weight of a word
Thus the violence is passed on, from Iris’ parents to her, and onward to the “children” she’d ensure would always be imbued with specific purpose. Presumably she thought she was helping them
“When you are sad, you like to untie your hair, and then tie it up over and over again.” Jiao clearly observes Iris quite closely. Another potential “purpose” these two were barred from fulfilling?
“If I were him…” That much is clear, Jiao
Iris states that her mother “saw all the ugly things,” and then one night forced the family to flee. So what is this event that disrupted their family, that they were forced to flee from?
The next Jiao demonstrates not just her love for Iris, but also Iris’s control over her – Iris apparently convinced her to change some competition results, all in hopes of having a sleepover together
“Are you trying to ruin my life?” “I’m sorry! I wanted it to be a fun surprise. Like twins.” Jiao was the first to make a copy, although Iris certainly didn’t appreciate it
Ah, it seems Iris’s family is from Hong Kong. So this is some international school, and while Iris is essentially rejecting her past, Jiao is intent to maintain hers
“Why are you sad and fat?” “You won’t take me to the dance, and I only want to go with you”
“‘You came here, so speak the language,’ you whispered.” Yep – Iris is desperate to present herself as fitting in among these English-speaking kids, while Jiao is a reminder of the past she is fleeing
“They are afraid of getting sick from people like us.” “But I was born here! It makes no sense.” Iris learning her acceptance into this community is still highly conditional
“Are they always so mean in this country?” “After we graduate, things will be different. We’ll have choices.” Hemmed in on both fronts, with both the past and future demanding a specific performance, a specific function – and somehow those functions are always incompatible with each other
“Look around. Everyone is staring. You can’t show such weakness in front of others.” Iris’s mom taught her to be strong and unbreaking, a lesson she sought to pass on to her daughters
As we submerge deeper into Iris’ repressed memories, we continue to dance around whatever she did to Jiao at the dance
So the two of them experienced an OCCUPANT at the same time, at Jiao’s moment of greatest despair. Are tears the symptom, or the cause?
It turns out Fixer was the intruder, drawing us deeper down to ensure a private conversation
“When I get to the other side, they’ll tell stories of the sister who betrayed us.” Watcher is of course far from ready to hear that her entire world is a lie
Ooh, the madness of the dance is an excellent visual payoff. They’re really making the most of this stark, largely lighting-based art design
The small rebellion Watcher allows herself is to admit Iris’s crimes, to speak truthfully of how cruel she was
Buuut she still betrays Fixer in the end
And Done
Damn, quite an opening chapter! In spite of this game’s nested realities, time-hopping shenanigans, and various mindscapes, it actually all came together remarkably quickly, likely due to the clarity of the story’s fundamental questions. The relationship between Iris and Jiao is a classic struggle – two immigrants attempting to fit in, with the more easy adopter directing her fear and sense of displacement towards the only receptacle she is allowed to punish. That name of “Dumpster Jiao” has a terrible ring to it; she indeed became the repository of all of Iris’s hatred, to the point where Iris’s actions even pushed her other classmates away. And the scifi drama we’re layering atop that human story is quite compelling as well, dabbling in cosmic horror-adjacent survival gameplay that also serves to reflect both the sorrow and the maternal framing of the human narrative. It’s one hell of an opening salvo, and I’m eager to see Watcher… well, realize that she just betrayed her only true friend. Damn.
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