IGPlus’ Indie Game of the Year 2022

What’s up in a Kharkiv bomb shelter – a have a look at the horror, humor, and humanity of life below bombardment  – is our Indie Game of the Year for 2022.

CONTENT WARNING – WAR, SOUNDS OF EXPLOSIVES, DEATH

This sport provides you a short, however emotionally highly effective have a look at life in a bomb shelter. Created by developer Dahuanna whereas they have been caught in a bomb shelter in Ukraine throughout the Russian bombardment, it goals to present gamers a glimpse into the numerous reactions folks can have whereas dwelling by means of such an occasion. Some can’t cease the information. Others are discovering their private issues have gotten far, far worse. Some simply need to have the ability to use the lavatory in peace. And one particular person may be very blissful to have their guitar.

The feelings don’t shock me. I’ve questioned what the folks struggling below these circumstances should have felt like. Dahuanna is aware of first-hand, and has created an expertise in strolling round and speaking to folks about how they really feel. This connection to a gaggle of folks present process these feelings feels a lot extra affective than merely fascinated about the state of affairs, although. There’s one thing about the flame-like partitions that always encompass you, the mild guitar punctuated by the shrieks of falling bombs and close by explosions. Just speaking with folks when it appears like, at any second, the entire place might explode, killing or trapping you. It’s surreal and terrifying, creating an emotional numbness that solely will get damaged up by stinging moments as you are feeling a touch of this actuality that the folks should have felt in dwelling by means of this.

One character mentions a way of their thoughts having shut off their reactions to all of it, and from this transient sport, I felt a way of it. It was like the feelings weren’t there, merely acknowledging whereas solely typically letting you are feeling the slightest trace of the full horror of what these folks had been feeling. It’s harrowing and exhausting to expertise, regardless that it’s only some minutes lengthy, however on this transient snapshot you get the tiniest sense of what these folks had been going by means of. That it might strike so arduous and devastatingly in such a short while, and thru the distance of experiencing it by means of a fictional medium, creates this empathy with the folks struggling below Russia’s assault burn all the extra. This is a touch of a touch of what these individuals are feeling. A whisper in comparison with an ear-rupturing roar. Whatever you are feeling for folks struggling below conflict, this sport will amplify your rage towards warmongers and your compassion to these struggling below them.

This name to care extra for folks struggling below conflict and cruelty – this expertise that makes us really feel the smallest trace of their ache and battle for humanity in the darkest of instances – makes this sport our Indie Game of the Year for 2022.

What’s up in a Kharkiv bomb shelter is accessible now on itch.io.

Joel Couture

Joel has been protecting indie video games for numerous websites together with IndieGames.com, Siliconera, Gamasutra, Warp Door, CG Magazine, and extra over the previous seven years, and has written book-length research on Undertale and P.T.. Joel is consistently on the lookout for digital experiences that push the boundaries of what video games could be, and seeks to delve into the inventive course of, meanings, and emotion labor that goes into the work of artists worldwide.