According to the editor of Six Days in Fallujah, Victura, the recently "resurrected" military FPS (we talked about it in this news), based on a real battle from the Iraq war, is not trying to "make a political comment on whether the war itself may have been a good idea or a bad idea".
Peter Tamte, head of Six Days in Fallujah publisher Victura, said developer Highwire Games "Will not address the political issues that led to the conflict"rather, it will be concerned with "arousing empathy" for American troops, their work to eliminate insurgents throughout Fallujah, and the civilians who were involved in the confrontation.
"I think reasonable people can disagree with this“, Tamte told Polygon, explaining how the development team's goal was to recount the feelings and experiences of the American military who fought in Fallujah within what was called a real example of a modern siege.
"For us as a team, it's really about helping players understand the intricacies of urban combat." Tamte continues. "These are the experiences of that individual who is now there due to political decisions. And we want to show how the choices made by politicians influence the choices [a marine] has to make on the battlefield. Just as that Marine cannot judge the choices of politicians, we are not trying to make a political comment about whether the war itself was a good idea or a bad idea".
A statement that seems to run after those of other developers and industry players that over the months have been spent to avoid getting into political issues (as in the case of Tim Sweeny di Epic Games), but which in the case of Six Days in Fallujah could, in the long run, create great discussions.
The siege of Fallujah: a hot topic
From what we know, Highware Games and Victura are working to build a product that is as respectful as possible of the history of the siege of Fallujah, which between 2003 and 2004 became stronghold of a terrorist cell very well prepared that put the US military and some contractor agencies (private military companies) in check for months.
Production of the game required the interview of decides of eyewitnesses between civilians, American and Iraqi military, a fact that could suggest that Six Days in Fallujah could become an interesting example of a historical video game about a contemporary event. Yet already now various elements appear potentially controversial.
Also in her interview with Polygon in fact Tamte explains for example how to respect the objectives of the game (the creation of a military fps that pays homage to the US troops) Established historical facts have been omitted, such as the use of unconventional weapons such as white phosphorus by the Americans. A fact at the time extremely contested by international institutions and that the development team, while attentive to the reconstruction of history, does not seem to want to address, although Tamte himself has stated that one of the themes of the game is to be "the human cost" of war.
“There are things that divide us, and to include those really divisive things, I think it distracts people from the human stories we can all relate toTamte said about it. “I have two concerns with the inclusion of phosphorus as a weapon. The first is that it is not part of the stories these guys have told us, so I don't have an authentic and factual basis on which to tell it. This is the most important. The second is that I don't want sensational things to distract from story of that experience".
The US team could be about to move on a real minefield and in a potential framework of ambiguity.
While the goal appears to be to describe the horror of war-including the POV of a family of civilians, whose story will alternate with that of the military- on the other hand, various choices of omission could give rise to controversies that were already in the air at the time of the first attempt to publish the game.
We'll see.
