While most video games allow gamers to experience what it’s like to survive an alien invasion or a military battleground, a new indie game is set to test one’s ability to survive Asian-style parenting.
Created by a pair of developers from China called Octopus Play, the game titled “Chinese Parents” puts gamers in the role of a Chinese boy trying to fulfill his parents’ expectations while growing up.
In the game, players are challenged to immerse themselves in a Chinese household, performing tasks that earn points as they grow up from birth to 18 years of age. These points are later allocated to various character “aptitudes,” such as physical performance, intelligence, emotional capacity, and artistic talents. By learning different skills through these different aptitude categories, the character makes the parents proud.
Being compared with other children, which happens when other families make their visit, is a core mechanic of the gameplay. Through mini-games, the parents would pit their children against each other in a manner not too different from Pokémon games.
Like in real life in most Asian households, growing up lazy with no developed talent in the game will result in your virtual parents losing face as there will be no achievements to show off.
Designed like the health bar in regular fighting games, the parents’ “face value” must always be full to stay in the game.
But while parents with an overachieving character can easily “defeat” these visiting children, overdoing the achievements can also be bad for the character. For instance, studying too much can increase the player’s stress level which reflects on the character’s health and personality later on.
A pre-release demo of the game which lets users play up to age 5 is now available for download on Steam.
H/T Abacus News
Featured Image via YouTube / Josh Ye
