Lost Wage Rampage is a new riot grrl driving game about stealing what you’re owed and destroying everything else.
Out today, Lost Wage Rampage is as punk as games get. It’s about two angry mall clerks who plunder their local mall after discovering their male colleagues’ paychecks are larger than theirs. They roll their orange convertible over whatever they want—shirts, computer hardware—and scoop up cash. If cop cars catch up to them three times, the game is over. A round lasts anywhere from thirty seconds to several minutes.
“Punk” isn’t just a hand-wavey way to say “mad.” Lost Wage Rampage is free on Itch.io, with the brevity and energy of a punk song and a vintage ‘00s Flash game vibe. It’s for the people, easy to pick up. It plays like Katamari Damacy, with obvious controls but labored steering. It’s unpolished, but artfully unpolished, like a patch-studded jacket. Its killer punk rock soundtrack helps make its case.
Lost Wage Rampage spits its message in your face. But it’s having fun while flipping off the gender pay gap. It’s a gut-punch of girl pwr that goes to show that fighting the system or whatever can bring people together.
Disclosure: I’ve met the game’s developer and designer several times.