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RIOT: Civil Unrest Simulates the Real Thing

Merge Games Ltd. is giving players a real-time riot simulation experience in RIOT: Civil Unrest.

RIOT: Civil Unrest takes players on a pixelated journey spread across four campaigns and over 30 individual scenarios. The game creates a thought-provoking experience as players are put at the heart of some of the world’s most recent confrontations. Some of these include Oakland, California United States, Tahrir Square in Egypt, and Caracas in Venezuela.

In the game players control either law enforcement or the protesters with an effort to portray a balanced view of each event.

The game was born out of real-life experiences of its artist and creator, Leonard Menchiari (@LMenchiari Twitter). During the summer of 2011 he attended the NO-TAV protests in northern Italy where he witnesses first-hand the actions of both law enforcement and the protesters. Menchiari created the game to tell the stories and convey the emotions felt during these events.

Coming off as a strategy game, RIOT: Civil Unrest sets objectives in each scenario for the player. It is up to the player to decide how each situation should be handled using different strategies and tactics in order to achieve the desired outcome.

Player performance is rated. Aggression may lead to a quick successful outcome, but softer approaches may lead to the same resolution without hurting public opinion.

Each individual in the crowd has its own artificial intelligence that gives the various characters very realistic and fluid movement. The PC version of the game features an editor that allows players to create their own scenarios.

From the gameplay trailer video many scenes have shown to have large crowds and law enforcement both responding to the given situation. Sometimes the situation is a molotov is thrown, a pile of debris is set ablaze, or law enforcement firing on the crowd. With such large crowds and armed law enforcement response, a more peaceful resolution may prove to be the more challenging aspect of this simulation game.

RIOT: Civil Unrest is set for a February 2019 launch on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

Merge Games Ltd. is an independent video game publisher and distributor based out of Manchester, England.