Back in June, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of alleged undocumented migrants in Los Angeles provoked a wave of protests. The Trump administration attempted to make hay from the situation, dispatching federal military troops to the city in a show of toughness, against the objections of California’s own governor. Despite this cynical cultivation of a pressure-cooker atmosphere, the majority of protesters were peaceful, albeit justifiably loud and angry at having their neighbours seized and imprisoned by random thugs at the behest of a dime store Palpatine.
I was in Los Angeles at the time covering Summer Game Fest, and saw a few of the protest marches up close while walking across the city. Aftermath has a good, longer report on the unearthliness and angst of attending a game expo right in the middle of such events, including comments from other journalists and developers.
The Los Angeles protests and the Trump administration’s wider policies on immigration have provoked additional demonstrations across the USA. They’ve also inspired an Itch.io charity bundle, “No ICE in California”, which spans 560 video games, physical games, game asset packs and other items from 268 developers for $10. Hosted by jesthehuman, the bundle has raised $26,712.19 as of the time of writing, with proceeds going to the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a Los Angeles law firm who specialise in defending immigrant communities, and RAÍCES, a Texas-based immigrant advocacy and support organisation.
As is RPS tradition, I’ve picked out a few bundle highlights. Elephantasy Flipside (pictured) is a glorious isometric single-screen puzzler, the kind of thing I’d have had kittens over if I’d found it on a MacWorld shareware disc, back in the 90s. Brush Burial is a crushed and grimy immersive sim in which you are a knife-wielding cockroach. Periphery Synthetic EP is a set of reactive, musical solar systems that can apparently be explored using echolocation and terrain sonification, if you’re too cool for screens. And Centauri Dark is a gut-emptying rainbow of a bullet hell FPS.
Got highlights of your own? Please share. Beware that if you’ve bought other Itch.io charity bundles, you may own some of these games already.
