''Tonight We Riot'' is a

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...

game released in 2020 by American studio Pixel Pushers Union 512, and published by Means Interactive, both

worker cooperatives A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by ...

, and released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

MacOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

and the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. The game promotes

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...

ideals.

Gameplay

The game follows a player-controlled crowd of workers rather than a single character, each member with their own weapons, to fight against

Pinkertons Pinkerton is a private security guard and detective agency established around 1850 in the United States by Scottish-born cooper Allan Pinkerton and Chicago attorney Edward Rucker as the North-Western Police Agency, which later became Pinker ...

, militias, and police as they move their way through a level. Players can inspire more workers to join the crowd by liberating factories and encouraging more workers to join the fight. The game's difficulty is dynamic as it is tied in part due to the size of the mob, from being extremely difficult as a single worker to challenging or easy as the mob grows in size. The levels end in boss fights ranging from large vehicles operated by the police to the President of the fictional country the game takes place in.

Plot

The game follows a worker's uprising in a future year of the 21st century that begins in Factory Town, an industrial town in a fictional country. After the uprising takes over Factory Town, they begin pushing through Bootlick Bayou, a logging town, Dockyards, a port and finally the Bowling Green Estates, a wealthy neighborhood which is the capital of this country. The uprising grows in size as it proceeds through each level in each area, inspiring more and more workers along the way. The game concludes with the workers overthrowing their government, implying that an

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in b ...

government is formed in its place.

Development

''Tonight We Riot'' started development around 2016, after Ted Anderson, one of the developers of Pixel Pushers Union 512, developed a smaller game called ''Radical Rebels'' which was nominated for the Gamer's Voice award at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

. Publishing partners were initially found with

New Blood Interactive New Blood Interactive is a video game publisher. Founded by Aaron Alexander, Kreyg DeZago, and Dave Oshry in 2014, the company originally developed virtual reality games that were never released. In 2016, New Blood turned to publishing, first r ...

, who first revealed the game at

PAX West PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX wa ...

2016, then showed the game off at

PAX East PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX was ...

in 2019. The game changed publishers to Means Interactive, another worker cooperative as a publisher, as it was "a better fit" for the game and game's message.

Reception

''Bonus Stage'' gave the game a positive review, praising the gameplay, story, and message, along with the game's sense of

tongue in cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...

humor. ''Wireframe'' also gave the game a positive review, praising the game's crowd control mechanics and that Pixel Pushers live true to their ethos, but criticized the game's short length and difficulty level. Indie game storefront

Itch.io Itch.io (stylized as itch.io) is a website for users to host, sell and download indie games. Launched in March 2013 by Leaf Corcoran, the service hosts over 500,000 games and items (assets, ebooks, music) . Itch.io also allows users to host ...

featured ''Tonight We Riot'' on their "Games of the Month" list for May 2020. Conservative magazine ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

'' praised ''Tonight We Riot'''s gameplay mechanics, describing them as "innovative", but overall gave the game a negative review due to the game's short length and the shared

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

ideology of the developer and publisher, claiming that due to their ideology, they should not sell the game on the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

and

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

References

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External links

Official website
2020 video games Anti-capitalism Cooperative video games Left-wing activism Linux games MacOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games Side-scrolling beat 'em ups Socialism in the United States Video games developed in the United States Video games set in the 21st century Windows games