There’s something sinister there Dance in video games. It’s a fun activity, but once it’s put into an unexpected context, things get weird. The Dancing Village in Elden Ring is an example of this, but there are also real events like this dancing plague of 1518 (a thing you should read about) that are even stranger than fiction. Eerie dancing is the focus of Silenusthe short, experimental demo for the new narrative-focused game from Norco Developer geography of robots. In less than an hour, the experience album, disguised as a typical game demo, delivers an unpleasant commentary on the rot of capitalism.
Silenus is a special feature – part game demo and part album release. That’s because the demo, officially titled as umbilical cord Pre-release demo, created in collaboration with the Baton Rouge-based metal band Youwho composed the music for Norco. The band releases their next album, umbilical cordon 31 May, and the Silenus The demo acts as a special early release for fans of the band. By exploring the demo, players can unlock all ten tracks on the album and listen to them via an in-game media player.
The gameplay aspect of Silenus sets you on an eerie adventure in an oil refinery recently acquired by a mysterious corporation whose goal is to automate the work and force the remaining human workers into inexplicable dance routines dictated by a giant floating hologram. It’s a setting and tone that will be familiar to those who have played Norcowhich also touched on working-class struggle and a Louisiana-inspired environment steeped in the oil business.
SilenusThe demo is short, but gets straight to the point (which is why it’s a bit heavy-handed at times). You can find emails and notes from workers wondering if they are facing random layoffs, and an apparent lack of communication from the refinery’s new owners who seem to care little about workers while striving to maximize profits Silenus is due out sometime later this year and is described by Geography of Robots as a “micro-adventure” that, once completed, will take no more than three hours to complete.
What makes the game mechanics even more fascinating is the way it incorporates the reward of routes from umbilical cord. As protagonist Titian, your job is never altruistic, aside from the player’s immediate reward of gaining access to the titles. In fact, you have to do a lot of shitty stuff if you want to listen to the entire album. One particularly memorable task involves reporting a colleague to your manager, which results in him being murdered for not following protocol. But you need his keycard to continue the demo, so the dead man is just a means to an end so you can get what you want. It’s a pretty effective allegory for how the company in the game that bought the oil refinery views its workers, and how private equity in the real world seems to do nothing but Destroy the things it touches.
That seems to be the explicit point of this playable album. Thou has long been a politically minded band, which is why the collaboration with Geography of Robots Norco works so well. This continues here, but in reverse order. In NorcoThou’s music was used for the game Geography of Robots. In the Silenus Demo: The game design of Geography of Robots is in service of Thou’s latest album.
“[T]His balance sheet is aimed primarily at the weaklings and malingerers. you say“burdened by capricious indulgence, bowed by the deep wounds of compromise, shuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back for integrity and conviction.” To reach the end Silenus Demo, the player must be a compromised weakling. Congratulations on getting full access to the album. I hope you don’t feel like a shitty person with all that blood on your hands.
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