One thing everybody struggles with no matter if they’re a gamer or not, is money problems and a new video game called Little Red Lie takes that cue. The game is rather bleak and dreary since it’s dealing with a serious topic and centers around two characters that never meet, but experience completely different sides of the economic spectrum.
The first protagonist is a middle-aged office administrator who lives with her family that is facing financial ruin. The other main protagonist in the game is Arthur Fox who is the poster man of a wealthy, successful, public figure who takes life by the horns with his charisma. The creator of the game, Will O’Neill, has a history of tackling heavy subjects through video games his previous game was known as Actual Sunlight was the autobiographical story of his own struggle with depression. O’Neil has stated that this new game will cover a topic everyone faces everyday of their lives, “It’s an exploration of a rock-bottom social and political reality that you wake up in every day.”
While the main subject of the game is going to focus on the two sides of the economic spectrum, the underlying focus of the game will tackle the feeling of hopelessness. The game will highlight the world which modern day millennials face and contrast it with the world the baby boomer generation grew up in. The female main protagonist Sarah will represent the side of millennials that struggle financially growing up in today’s society and William will represent the side that is able to survive due to their wealth and stability, the two will have different reactions and attitudes towards expenses such as higher housing, living cost, stagnant wages, and insecure employment leading to work culture of part-time work or contract gigs.
O’Neill describes Sarah as , “All she ever wanted to do was finish school, get a job, and climb the ladder she’d been told would be there her whole life,” as well as being a person who learned the harsh reality of life after everything her parent told her about the world became increasingly irrelevant. The game itself is very research-heavy, character-driven and identifies the harsh truth that those who are rich are powerful are also the worst of us and are able to get away with everything, and as their wealth increases the more things are torn away from others. The game will even personally implicate things into the story by asking the player a series of questions about their own financial situation that will later impact the story. O’Neill hopes that players will be able to walk away from the experience with a sense of acceptance and hope, after coming to terms with their own financial situation. Little Red Lie is available now on Steam and will take players on a worthwhile journey facing serious topics. Happy gaming!
Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons
