I keep jokingly recommending this to my friends and family as Asian Trauma: The Game™. It is true textually, and I think any other game tackling this subject would tell their message very wholesomely about how generational trauma hurts us, how it's a cycle to break, and that we can and should be better.

But 1000xRESIST is a little bit different. 1000xRESIST validates the anger and rage that Asian populations experience and inherit. Anger at the ones who raised us when it's hard to pinpoint where love exists in our relationship. Rage at state powers in our home countries that used its power to hurt its own people. The game doesn't shy away from the consequences of that hurt and shows how its glossy sci-fi world can turn so chaotic and messy so quickly. The world and its characters are constantly stained in blood and tears. This is both out of consequence, and of necessity.

And I think this is the hardest lesson for me to grasp from this game. I always try to say that I don't want to become like my parents, because I remember the qualities and traits that have hurt me the most. But 1000xRESIST acknowledges we inherit everything from our past generations; not just traits we despise, but qualities we adore. And we have so little time to share those with our future generations, and we can't share it all. So we have to choose: do we ignore the bad memories at the cost of stripping the parts that formed your identity? Do we share the bad at the risk of repeating the cycle? "Not everything can fit into the backpack."

I think even if you didn't grow up aware of generational trauma in your own life, 1000xRESIST is still a fantastic science fiction story. It uses it's larger-than-life sci-fi concepts to reiterate the human story beats and themes. There's so much love put into the art, writing, music, I hope you'll have a chance to see for yourself.

Hekki, grace to the Allmother

Originally played 10 hours on Nintendo Switch version