Finding ways to describe 1000xRESIST is difficult. It's such a clearly personal message that it almost feels insulting to speak on behalf of its creators.

It's a difficult, emotional, intrusive game. A game which was not constructed for the white gaze, as it presents an uncomfortable and nuanced view of the history of Hong Kong, its complicated relationship with China, the conflicted feelings of Hongkongers, the 2014 Hong Kong protests. Wrapping it in an analogy of intergenerational trauma and motherhood, it escapes the boring, rote tendencies of political storytelling, by presenting political realities not as problems to be fixed, but as a gordian knot of riddles and intractable complexities that no singular person could hold all the right answers to.

At no point in this story will there ever be a moment when the only takeaway is "Communism Bad" -- and this is precisely because of how differently asian cultures tend to perceive politics. Instead, the analogy of motherhood is used to describe a tricky, messy relationship of a mother who, deep down, does want what's best for her child, but suffocates and unwittingly ends up damaging them in the process. Simultaneously, the analogy shows the child as determined to fly the nest and seek freedom, but all the while showing them impacting against the cruel and sudden consequences of "living outside the wall", "living upstairs", "living on the other side", and coming to the realisation that having been kept safe and sound from said consequences had not prepared them with the mechanisms to deal with the novelty of an ultimately uncaring, unrelenting "Freedom". And of how conditional -- and conditioned -- that "Freedom" truly is.

It says so much about both the oppressive regime, and the oppressed, while at all points avoiding the easy and mindless morality trappings that most other games would feel compelled to include. It doesn't treat the oppressive regime as a monolith but rather as an ideal followed by many individual, flawed people who may not even agree with one another entirely. It doesn't treat the oppressed as a unidimensional avatar of righteousness, but as a self-interested person with their own internal conflicts, subject to their own biases, limited by their anecdotal first-person view of the world around them.

In fewer words: 1000xRESIST is a game made by people who have an adult, mature view of politics, created for people with an adult, mature view of politics. And, in the process, it helps you to realise a lot about yourself, about what you truly defend, what you're willing to overlook. It makes you look at a scale between "comfort" and "freedom", and without ever making any real leading questions it forces you to ponder exactly where in that scale you fall.

Potentially being turned into "Red is Bad" propaganda by western conservative movements would cheapen the experience, chiseling out the deeply nuanced and messy reality of the world the game presents, as well as our own, tokenising the suffering of Hongkongers. Recounting the way Jiao and Iris were socially ostracised for fear of "being the source of the illness" simply for being asians is a painful and perhaps heavy reminder of the type of indescriminate oppression and violence that a lot of asian people in white majority countries suffered during the COVID19 pandemic, even if in any other scenario those same oppressors would be using their identity as a cudgel to attack China's regime with.

I'm under no impression that the creators of the game are seeking that type of representation, and what makes it most obvious to me is its presentation of a poignant, powerful message about freedom of identity and expression, gender non-conformity, and institutionalised racism in white-majority countries, especially toward immigrants of different ethnicities -- things which those who'd seek to appropriate this message would fundamentally disagree with anyway.

So, what we're left with is a game that will IMMEDIATELY filter out any sort of bad actor seeking to use its message for the wrong purpose. It is unabashedly a game about the messiness and the multidimensionality of our world. It fundamentally refuses to present any of its many sides simplistically, which forces you to sympathise with notions you would otherwise have a hard time understanding, due in part to the overly simplistic way in which other media tends to present them.

1000xRESIST is not just a game about Hong Kong.

It's a game about genuine love, but also about the unhealthy obsessions we misunderstand to be love.

It's a game about political oppression, but also about deep-rooted fear of change.

It's a game about the helplessness of everyday citizens under a hostile invasion, but also about the inherent tendency for people to be unwelcoming to unfamiliar faces.

It's a game about the depths of a mother's love, but also about how a mother's over-protectiveness can over time morph into a self-destructive power imbalance.

It's a game about violence and about taking justice into one's hands, in the fervor of our convictions, but it's also a game without a combat system at all, whatsoever.

It's a game about the knot of political conviction which can only be resolved with cutting, but also a game about the devastation that the knife leaves in its wake.

This is not just an important game. It's one of the most important games from the last decade. And you deserve to play it.

Just go in expecting that it will warm your heart with its tender music and humour, but just as quickly break it with a harsh reminder that, no matter how much we obscure reality with escapism, all art is, inherently, *ABOUT* something.

It's easy to forget that throughout this entire review, the one thing I've not delved into at all is the gameplay. That is, in part, because gameplay is very much not the focus of the experience, and that's in equal parts good and bad. In a way, the message of 1000xRESIST transcends the medium, by merit of its earnestness. And I understand just saying that would have some players wonder whether this may be something a bit too pretentious for them. And I understand you, honestly.

If you are questioning if that's gonna be something you're interested in, then it's probably not a game for you -- but nevertheless, I implore you to give it a try. I implore you to put aside what you're comfortable with spending your time doing, and instead dare to try something you would never think you'd gain anything from. I implore you to step out of your comfort zone. To put aside the status quo and dare to think differently.

It's not going to be easy, especially at the beginning. A lot of things will seem confusing, novel, meaningless, but if you just keep with it, I promise you that you'll come out the other end a much better human being.

That is, afterall, also what 1000xRESIST is about.