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1000xRESIST
Developer(s)	Sunset Visitor
Publisher(s)	Fellow Traveller Games
Director(s)	Remy Siu Kodai Yanagawa
Producer(s)	N. Tan
Programmer(s)	Colin J MacDougall
Writer(s)	Pinki Li Conor Wylie
Composer(s)	Line Katcho Drew Redman
Platform(s)	Windows, Nintendo Switch
Release	9 May 2024
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

1000xResist (stylized as 1000xRESIST) is an adventure video game created by developer Sunset Visitor and published in 2024 by Fellow Traveller Games for Windows and Nintendo Switch. The player is a clone named Watcher in the post-apocalyptic far future where aliens have eradicated most of humanity through a global pandemic, leaving only a small society of clones behind.

Upon release, the game received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise directed to its narrative and treatment of themes relating to the experience of members of diaspora communities, the legacies of conflict, intergenerational trauma and the coronavirus pandemic. Several critics described 1000xRESIST as one of the best games of 2024. Prior to release, the game received nominations for several awards at the 2024 Independent Games Festival, including a shortlist for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Gameplay

1000xRESIST is a narrative-based adventure game involving environmental exploration and conversational choices with characters throughout the game's settings. The game features many optional conversations and interactions, particularly in the game's overarching area, the Orchard, which is navigated a map of the area and a minimap to show waypoints of interest. In other parts of the game, players engage in Communion to explore memories, allowing them to jump forward or backwards in a given memory to explore previously inaccessible areas, or to see characters experience different time periods. Unlocking additional time periods can assist the player in completing puzzles or accessing new conversations to progress the story. In some segments during Communion, the player enters focuses on a specific memory by entering an abstract space, slowing time and interacting with floating spheres to fly between them to locate and listen to the characters who had the conversation.

Plot

The story of 1000xRESIST is presented in nonlinear fragments over the game's ten chapters. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic future after humanity was nearly eradicated in 2047 by an alien force known as the Occupants. Following Occupant invasion, the date of many of the game's sequences is ambiguous. Humans are nearly extinct due to a pandemic brought by the Occupants that causes moisture to drain from the eyes of the afflicted. Many years after the pandemic, remaining human life inhabits an undersea vessel, the Orchard, led by the Allmother. The Allmother is a survivor of the invasion of the Occupants, one of few known to be immune to the pandemic. She creates clones of herself called Sisters, each with a specific role and purpose in the Orchard, such as: Principal, the overseer; Healer, the doctor; Fixer, the engineer; and Knower, the librarian. The Allmother promises Sisters a blessing of immunity in return for their service. The player assumes the role of Sister Blue, a Watcher who is tasked to record and interpret the life story of the Allmother through a process known as Communion. During Communion, the Watcher is accompanied by a floating Familiar, Secretary, and embodies the Allmother as she walks through her memories.

Exploring memories in non-chronological fragments, the player explores the Allmother's memories through the perspective of her former identity, Iris Kwan. As the player navigates these memories, they learn about the relationship between Iris and her parents, who emigrated from Hong Kong during the 2019–2020 protests, and her high school friend Jiao, who recently emigrated from China. Iris has a strained relationship with her mother, who is strict and domineering and struggles with her mental health as a result of her experiences during the protests. She also has a complex relationship with Jiao, her only friend, whom she bullies for her use of Mandarin and connections to Chinese culture, despite Jiao's affection for Iris. During this time, the Occupants appear as a large red body floating in the sky. Several students fall ill, including Jiao, who dies during the invasion. Despite protest from her parents, Iris leaves home after authorities offer to study her immunity against the disease. She brings with her a portrait of Jiao, whose voice Iris can still hear.

Fixer, a clone who has left the Orchard, hijacks Watcher's first Communion and warns her that the Allmother has been in communication with the Occupants. Although Watcher shares a close relationship with Fixer, she confides with Principal about Fixer’s accusations. Principal condemns Fixer to death and orders all of the Sisters to commune with Watcher to prove their loyalty. As Watcher undertakes further Communion, she uncovers a more human and fallible version of the Allmother compared to what is generally taught and believed in the Orchard. In one memory, the youngest of the Ancient Sisters— the first five clones of the Allmother— attempted to clone Jiao using DNA from the portrait Iris carried. In response, the Allmother punished the Ancient Sisters by stripping them of their immunity, and departed the Orchard for the Other Side, a place outside the reach of the clones. Back in the present, the Orchard is invaded by an occupant. Watcher discovers during a Communion that the Occupants are also able to commune with the Allmother, and that the Allmother accepted a bargain granting her the powers of the Occupants. Disillusioned, the Watcher travels to the Other Side and stabs the Allmother. Principal attends the dying Allmother and reveals she is the youngest of the Ancient Sisters. Watcher escapes the Orchard as it slowly floods with water.

After the Allmother's death, a Provisional Government is established by Knower, now dubbed the High Minister, and Watcher is captured. Watcher reveals to Knower that Principal manipulated the communions to motivate her to kill the Allmother, and Knower reveals that Fixer is still alive. Knower attempts to coerce a confession from Watcher, and removes her eyes when she refuses. From this point onward, the player assumes the role of 48, a bartender who lives in the Old Town beneath the Orchard. When her partner at the bar is murdered by the High Minister’s security force, she vows to bring down the Provisional Government. 48 infiltrates the government and is promoted to work in the Orchard, taking on the alias Blue. Blue becomes involved in a plot orchestrated by various factions working against the government, and plants an explosive device that wipes out much of the government leadership. Blue escapes and meets with Fixer and her allies, who have managed to rescue Watcher, who is mortally wounded from the torture she endured in captivity. As Watcher succumbs to her injuries, she communes with Blue and reveals that the Occupants communicate through memories, and that the truth will be revealed if Blue summons an Occupant and triggers a mass communion. The surviving various factions unite to stage an attack against the Provisional Government.

After the mass communion is triggered, Secretary merges with the remaining Occupant. They provide the player with the choice to keep or erase each of the surviving characters, determining the fate of the world. In the epilogue of the game, an unnamed character accompanies Blue to visit the graves of characters marked throughout the Orchard.

Development

1000xRESIST was created by Sunset Visitor, a four-person development team based in Vancouver, Canada, with backgrounds in theatre, new media, dance and performance art. Creative director Remy Siu stated the game began as a prototype in March 2020 following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, during a period when the developers were unable to perform or tour and decided to enter video game development. The characters in the game were animated using Rokoko motion capture technology.

1000xRESIST was announced with the release of a trailer in September 2022, and a demo was showcased at Steam Next Fest in February 2023. The full version of the game was published by Fellow Traveller on 9 May 2024 on PC and the Nintendo Switch. The game was distributed as part of a Summer Narrative Celebration Humble Bundle in September 2024.

Reception

According to review aggregator Metacritic, 1000xRESIST received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, with the site identifying the game as one of the highest-rated of the first half of 2024. Several critics described 1000xRESIST as one of the best games of 2024.

Many critics praised the game's themes, with reviewers noting its content explored the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the experiences of members of diaspora communities, and of conflict and intergenerational trauma. Tom Faber of the Financial Times stated the game explores "existential themes and contemporary global politics with a sophistication and maturity that are still lamentably rare in gaming". Josh Torres of RPG Site lauded the game for its "illustration of the different struggles of immigration across generations", highlighting its treatment of themes around intergenerational trauma, conflict and the "intricacies of Asian diaspora". Considering the game to defy summarisation or simple metaphor, Alexis Ong of Eurogamer similarly discussed the game's treatment of the "invisible", "ugly and gruelling" effects of immigration and eventual assimilation.

The writing of 1000xRESIST was similarly praised, with several critics praising the story as one of the best narratives in a game. Faber considered the game to be a "feat of storytelling" and commended the game's "uniformly superb" writing as "poetic, poignant and humorous". Ed Smith of PCGamesN highlighted the developers' "command of dialogue, characterization, staging, symbolism and visual metaphor". Finding 1000xRESIST to be "purposed" in its writing, Michael Higham of IGN focused on the game's characterisation, praising characters as fully-formed, rich in personality and expressing genuine warmth in their interactions.

The visual presentation received generally positive comments. Oisin Kuhnke of VG247 described the game as "visually stunning" and "the most boldly art directed game of the year". Higham did not consider the game as graphically impressive, but expressed that the game let "its creative techniques speak as loud as its words" through the use of "striking" colors and camera angles. Faber found the game's graphics to "underwhelm" but be compensated by a "strong" and "stylish" artistic direction.

Accolades

References

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External links

• Official website

• 2024 video games
• Adventure games
• Indie games
• Nintendo Switch games
• Post-apocalyptic video games
• Single-player video games
• Video games about alien invasions
• Video games about viral outbreaks
• Video games developed in Canada
• Video games set in the future
• Windows games