1979 Revolution: Black Friday Review for Xbox One

1979 Revolution: Black Friday is a historical narrative game that educates the players on what happened during the Iranian Revolution. The designer himself, Navid Khonsari, is actually considered a spy by the Iranian government. iNK stories partook in both the publishing and developing of the game and in the development process they were joined by N-Fusion Interactive.

In the game, you play as a photojournalist that returns home and sees citizens protesting against the king. Your camera is your primary weapon and you are thrown in the middle of a dangerous revolution and a country filled with civil unrest. In the game you are placed in the protagonist’s, Reza, shoes and you are forced to make life or death decisions.

One thing that I really like about 1979 Revolution: Black Friday is that it is a telltale style game. This means it gives the players the opportunity to choose the dialogue that the main character says. By doing this Khonsari attempts to put the player in the situation. With each choice and dialogue chosen, the game plays the NPC’s say something a little bit different.

The game starts off during the time after the king is overthrown and Ayatollah Khomenei has taken power. Reza gets captured by the revolutionary guard and gets taken into Evin Prison, which is a place that is both brutal and cruel. In the prison you are interrogated by Ayatollah Khomenei. Throughout this time Reza is being tortured for information. Because the player picks what Reza says, during this interrogation you can Reza killed. However if you do this, part of the conversation restarts.

Once that scene is done you are sent to the past when the king was still in power. Babak is the one the introduces you to the protests. This is when you start living through the experience of the revolution against the king. You are taking pictures and going through the protests listening what people are saying and reading what the images are also saying. What I really like about this is that when a picture is taken you can read little paragraphs about the meaning behind the image. This is the main draw of the game. Khonsari wants the players to have a better understanding on what happened during this time period, and to do so he does not only put his players into situations and make choices but also give background information. This game is very accurate on what actually happened during this time period. The game itself is a documentary.

The graphics of 1979 Revolution: Black Friday are not well polished, but that might be part of the experience of the game itself. There are times when I felt confused on what exactly was happening during the game, but that is also an aspect of what happened during the time. The reason I was confused was not because much of the experiences were not presented to me, but because of all the information being thrown at me at once. There simply was not enough time to process everything, but then again that would have also been the case if I was actually there during the revolution.

Even though this game is not usually the type of game that I play, I enjoyed it and found it very educational.  The voice acting and music of the game were perfect. I could feel their emotions through their words and the graphs were polished enough for me to see it in their expressions. 1979 Revolution: Black Friday might be more about getting the players to gain an interest into what happened during this time period in Iran. This means it is the players job to play the game then go outside of the game to learn more about it (just like a documentary).

Rating 7.5 out of 10

Check Out the 1979 Revolution: Black FridayTrailer:

1979 Revolution: Black Friday is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Please note that the Mixer interactivity is exclusive to the Xbox One version.

Samer Alrayes

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I have always loved playing video games. As a writer, I see them as interactive stories. Just like with books and movies/television, people can become so immersed in a completely different world. I play a wide range of games like: Stardew Valley, The Witcher, Fortnite, and Destiny. I'm just a graduate student that writes stories and plays video games.

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