Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart has inspired many an artist, but a browser game is probably a first.
As you can imagine, it’s not a shoot ‘em up, instead it’s all about a relationship on the brink of a break up and creators, Mighty Box Games, require the gamer to reflect on the “darker side of love: miscommunication, emotional impasse and the sadness of separation.”
Cool.
It is in fact unlike almost any other game you’ve played and has received much critical acclaim for “blurring the boundaries between art and video games.”
The Malta-based company have released the free-to-play browser game – Will Love Tear Us Apart? – along with a promotional video, taking a bit of influence from a certain Peter Saville.
Gordon Calleja of Mighty Box Games said that he’d adapted the song using each verse as a different level.
“Gordon’s emphasis on expressing theme through both game mechanics and aesthetics created interesting tensions in the design process, resulting in scenarios which deliver the desired thematic experience whilst going against what is conventionally considered good game design,” explained the agency in its development notes.
“Although an effort was made to streamline game-play, the bias on theme marks the emotive experience. What guides this game is an ambition to frustrate, upset and sting the player into remembering the dark days preceding the death of a relationship.”
If, this Friday afternoon, you’d like to examine the darker side of a relationship and ultimately come to terms with the reality of irreconcilable differences, you can play it on your browser or on Facebook.
