How Origame Digital are channelling and defacing Lovecraft over a trilogy of "inherently indigenous" anti-fascist games

Origame Digital, the game developer behind the trilogy of anti-fascist games inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's work, has been drawing criticism for their use of Lovecraft's themes and imagery. Much like the Lovecraftian novella it draws from, Penguin Colony places players in an ancient alien city with a strange, otherworldly architecture that bears a striking resemblance to Lovecraft's own descriptions.

However, the developers have gone a step further by incorporating elements of indigenous Australian history and culture into the game's narrative.

In one section of the game, players control a group of Māori characters who embark on a mission to stop a group of German and British Nazi occultists from resurrecting a powerful being known as the "one true Aryan king." As the Māori voyagers navigate the city, they witness the cyclopean structures and blood-soaked streets, which the developers have intentionally contrasted with the more familiar setting of Melbourne, Australia.

The developers' choice to set the game in Melbourne, a city built on stolen Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung land, has drawn particular attention and criticism. The game's developers have positioned the city as a Lovecraftian relic, an intrusive force from beyond the cosmic beyond, but the underlying message seems to be one of irony and critique.

By placing indigenous characters in the role of protagonists and presenting the Nazi occultists as the true villains, the game aims to challenge conventional narratives about colonialism and fascism.