Umurangi Generation

Ostensibly just an arcade-like photography game with a stylish lo-fi aesthetic, Umurangi Generation provides compelling snapshots of a dystopian society and the disillusioned young generation surviving within it. Aided by an eclectic electronic soundtrack, the vibe created here is something else - a mixture of cool and quietly haunting. It's unfortunate that some annoyingly unpolished elements, such as the janky platforming, take the shine off an otherwise great experience.

Never been much into photography, in video games or in real life, but the vibes of the art direction and some snippets of the soundtrack for this game made me pick it up.

Starting out on a sun-drenched rooftop overlooking a crunch, low polygon, vaguely dystopian city, you have a checklist of pictures to take and a time limit. You can ignore that if you want. You probably should. It's not going anywhere. Take your time for now. Fill your camera roll, take more pictures than you're supposed to. Find something that looks cool that the game doesn't ask you to look for. Mess with the settings on your camera. Deep fry a nice shot until it hurts to look at. Re-evaluate your relationship with the idea of making art for it's own sake vs. commodifying it for the consumption of others. See a cool bird. Hang out with your friends and vibe out to some tunes. See where the world is headed. Take pictures of it.

Umurangi Generation was among the hippiest games on its release in the 2020-2021 period snapping up awards and acclaim. It has a very cool vibe that brings an interesting story perspective and a stylized look that's not quite lo-fi PS1, but close.

Outside this, you travel in your Jet Set Radio world and take photos of objects as requested and are highly requested to avoid pictures of the blue bottle jellyfish. The game's early exploration is fun, but it's still fun when it encourages you to do it all within a time limit to try and unlock some more photo lenses and effects.

I only have bumped this down half a star because some parts of the game felt a bit broken. In my first play-through, just by jumping into platforms, I found myself cutting into walls (leading to my death) or being launched super high into the air. Great fun, but it happened quite a bit!

It's another cool game that makes you want to check out what the developer will make next.