Salaam, a game about refugees making their way to safety, will have you rushing to escape the military on foot as their shots ring out overhead.
You will play as an unnamed refugee, surrounded by parents carrying children, elderly people working to keep up with the group, and other friends and neighbors as you all seek to find safety from those who are terrorizing your people. Inevitably, they will catching up, though, forcing you to rush down whatever path you happen to find, dodging hazards in your path, lions lying in waiting, and the cruel men with guns who are nipping at your heels.
Salaam isn’t just about running, as it also forces you to deal with the many other challenges that refugees endure. Dehydration, food, sickness, and malnutrition are all concerns that you must deal with, continually adding to the difficulties you face as you just try to survive. Not to mention the feeling you get as you notice yourself running alone when you had previously been with so many. You might escape, but what of those families you left behind?
This game’s heart-wrenching narrative comes from the developer’s own family experiences. Lual Mayen’s parents had fled on foot during the Second Sudanese Civil War, with the developer being born on their journey to find safety. Years later, another war would break out, killing even more of Mayen’s relatives. Mayen has experienced a great deal of horror living as a refugee, and aims to bring about positive change by having you experience and understand the challenges refugees all over the world deal with on a daily basis.
Also, when you purchase supplies for your character in the game, the developer says they’ll send real supplies to a real refugee through partnerships with NGOs and non-profits. That’s an in-game purchase I think I can get behind.
Salaam is currently in development, but you can support its creation on Kickstarter.
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