I’d like to preface this post with a rather poignant quote. Not preface the entire post though, because I feel it cheapens my genius if I don’t place several layers of abstraction between myself and other writers.

You enjoy all the killing, that’s why!

- Liquid Snake, from the little known video game “Metal Gear Solid”, of the Playstation era (truly the cave paintings of our medium)

Despite the rabid squawking of the “mainstream press”, and I’ve put that in quotes as you’re reading a blog and so you were probably born in 1997 and have never even seen a newspaper, violence has long been the premiere method of exploring morality in art. This is more than simply due to the effect that being edgy and offensive has on the unwashed masses, but because mindless (and on occasion most rare, mindful) slaughter, simulated though it may be, allows us to tear down the barriers erected by our corrupt society and confront the innermost tennets of our being: right and wrong.

Pro Killer Man is more than a Hitman parody, it is a stark indictment of human behaviour and the seedy underbelly of our world that we refuse to acknowledge.

“I need you to kill people.”

“Ok.”

There are people, people like you or I (ok maybe just plebes and ruffians like you, I am a man of refined taste and unparalleled culture) for whom this is not a satirical statement. People kill for money, for a variety of reasons, and much like video game developers, some are professional (me) and some are amateurs (Phil Fish, I very much doubt he has killed a person at all). Loud bumper stickers instruct us to praise and glorify the most prolific killers of our time, indeed, theirs is seen as a glorious task. What of the contract killer? Here we find a great silence.

In Pro Killer Man, you find yourself as a stylised member of the faceless masses, with orders to kill other human beings, for reasons unbeknownst to you. It’s not your job to care, as the vastness and depth of human emotion you will confront in the act of taking a life is enough to wrestle with. It’s a simple keyboard and mouse setup, which I decided to unsimplify, by using a laptop trackpad as a constant reminder that snuffing out the great spark of consciousness in a sentient being is no easy task. The eternal soul, at once so resilient, and yet so fragile, dissipates to another plane upon contact with a bullet. The choice you face is simple, them or you.

There are consequences for killing. There are laws. There is a balance to be maintained, though it is not so steadfast that a resilient man cannot upset it, that he cannot take so many lives and his own remain intact. But what kind of hollow life is this?

The hollow life of the Pro Killer Man, riding into the horizon with his bountiful wealth, and his abyssal soul.

Pro Killer Man (Direct Link) by JW, 2.85 MB

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Freeware, Indie As Hell, Shooters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.