Umurangi Generation

Cyberpunk and anime aesthetics mix with a climate apocalypse in Umurangi Generation, a Māori sci-fi, first-person photography game inspired by the 2019 Black Summer bushfires. Not only does it draw on developer Naphtali Faulkner’s experience as a photographer but the government response to Black Summer – in Te Reo, Umurangi means ‘red sky’, a reference to the hellish atmosphere during the catastrophe.

In the game’s futuristic Tauranga, neon lights illuminate rooftops and condemned housing districts, the walled-city streets bustle with partygoers and fighter jets fly overhead. Through the camera’s viewfinder, the player is given an intimate view of a city suffering through climate change, political apathy and over policing. By giving players the ability to change lenses and minutely edit images, they’re given a sense of agency over the chaos, with points earned for creatively capturing the environment rather than shooting enemies like most dystopian games.