1000xRESIST

Play it on: Switch, PC

Current goal: Roll credits

Buy it from: Humble Bundle

I’m only about a third of the way through sci-fi narrative adventure 1000xRESIST but I assume I’ll roll credits before the weekend is out. I just can’t stop thinking about the game, and every time I’m not playing it I wish I was. That’s because 1000xRESIST is so confident and unique in its stylistic and narrative style, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever played before. To oversimplify a plot that gets more complicated with every hour, 1000xRESIST is about a woman named Watcher, one of many clones in a society worshipping ALLMOTHER. Watcher’s job is to look through the memories of ALLMOTHER and interpret them for her sisters, but that job quickly leads her to learn that her world may be built on lies.

Through the time-bending traversal of memories, Watcher dives deeper and deeper into the truth behind ALLMOTHER. What begins as a hard-to-parse sci-fi story quickly unfolds itself into a more emotionally complex game that touches on themes of identity, motherhood, and diaspora politics. It’s a lot of things crammed into one package, yet 1000xRESIST hasn’t stumbled yet in the time I’ve spent with it. It’s one of many amazing indie games out this week, but one I think people really shouldn’t miss. — Willa Rowe