What does it take to turn someone into a supervillain? According to a few Marvel movies, not much: Tony Stark skipping a meeting or taking over your construction contracts will instantly push you into a career of ruthless supervillainy.
In pixel art action game Vindefiant, it didn't take much to turn someone evil, either:
"In Vindefiant, you play as Alyx, a disgruntled ex-employee on a relentless path of vengeance and destruction," the game's Steam page says. After getting fired from his corporate job, "Alyx unleashes his powers and sparks a path of rage and destruction to get revenge on his former employer."
I know that sounds unsettling and grim, but one look at the trailer below and you'll see it's filled with over-the-top pixelated destruction. Alyx's cartoony superpowers in Vindefiant are a bit reminiscent of metroidvania Carrion: you've got long snaking tendrils that lash out from your body so you can swing and clamber through world like a giant spider, flinging people through windows and into machinery and bashing them into bloody pulps. It's pretty grisly, but hey, you're the villain, right?
The inspiration for Alyx's backstory comes from a real place: the developer's own experience in the game industry.
"In February 2023, I was made redundant from my job in the AAA games industry, and this was the final catalyst that created a prototype in June 2023 that was soon to develop into Vindefiant," developer Jordan Blake of Blakey Games said.
"I went to college to study game design and then Uni, and I dropped out of Uni after being offered my dream job. It was a big risk but exactly what I wanted to do," Blake told me via email. "I was then unfortunately made redundant from that job after half a year and I took the risk and went indie full time."
Blake's job was consumed by the same sorts of layoffs that have become distressingly common in the past several years. "I was affected by mass layoffs, right at the start of my AAA career, and also right at the start of the industry collapsing. It was a very difficult time," Blake said.
I asked if Blake was at all concerned about finding future work in the industry—having now made a game where a guy goes absolutely ham on his former employers for firing him.
"I think when I first announced the game there were some concerns. But as time went on I’m much more of the belief that a studio should be able to recognise the difference between a game and reality," he said.
"The experience of being made redundant was merely an inspiration to create a revenge game. But from there the story grew on its own, and Vindefiant has a complete world of its own with different characters and motivations. There’s been a lot of positive reactions from people saying the game is a nice stress reliever, brought some laughter to their day, things like that. That's ultimately what I want from Vindefiant."
I asked if Blake would ever consider another job in a big studio.
"I would consider working for another AAA studio in the future," Blake said, "but I'm much more aware of the reality of AAA game development now, and know not to get so emotionally invested in working as a team, as losing that was tough to deal with."
Blake also said the Vindefiant wasn't specifically made to draw attention to game industry layoffs, "but I like that it’s a byproduct of it. People are struggling. And my heart’s with everyone who’s still looking for a job in the games industry. Stay strong!"
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