My Child Lebensborn

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

My Child Lebensborn
Single-player

My Child Lebensborn is a 2018

emotional trauma
, but reviewers noted that the game could be tough to play through.

Gameplay

In My Child Lebensborn, the player plays as an adoptive parent of a lebensborn child in Norway after World War II.[3] The player must make choices based on off-screen events (e.g. responding to child being bullied at school) and help to take care of them at home (e.g. making food for them).[3] Each day, there are two units of time that the player can use to help to make sure the child's "need" meters do not empty.[4] At the end of each chapter of the game, the player sees how their decisions fall on an emotional spectrum and how it has affected the player's child.[4]

Development

While Elin Festøy was developing a documentary about the children of lebensborn, she decided instead to focus on a project that would elicit empathy for the children amongst a broader audience.[3] She met developer Catharina Bøhler, a developer who was already creating a child nurturing game, and they created what Festøy called "a documentary game".[3] Festøy was concerned that a documentary film would just be a movie about old people talking about war, and felt that a video game would work better to show the story of what the children had to go through.[5] "We want to make people know what it felt like for those kids," Festøy said.[3] "We want to highlight how war isn't over until the hatred ends. Our game will be a simulator letting you experience first hand what it is like to grow up in a hateful society, focused on the situation of the child instead of the greater conflict."[3] The game was among the first wave of video game titles that were permitted to display the swastika in Germany.[6] The game was funded partially by a Norwegian government arts grant, and partially through a successful Kickstarter campaign.[3]

Reception

Reviewers commented that the game was not fun because of its dark story, but felt the game taught important lessons for players and was still an experience worth playing.[4][6][7][8] Polygon's Colin Campbell described Lebensborn as a "sort of bullying-management simulation" and praised the game for being an uncomfortable experience.[7] Der Spiegel's Matthias Kreienbrink called the game "not fun" but noted that it was a "partly depressing, partly enlightening" experience.[6] The Guardian's Simon Parkin felt that the game was "fierce and unflinching", and that although the game succeeded as a portrait of time in history, it was a "a difficult ride – oppressive, psychologically strenuous and repetitive."[4] Pocket Gamer's Emily Sowden felt that it was an educational experience that was worth it for the "price of a cup of coffee".[8]

The game won a 2018

BAFTA Games Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the 15th British Academy Games Awards on April 4, 2019, as a "Game beyond entertainment".[9]

The Google Play store later blocked access to the game in Germany, Austria, Russia, and France because of the sensitive nature of its content, with a Google spokesperson saying "This game does not violate our sensitive content policies in most countries, but it does so in a few markets."[10] Festøy said "We're working to get more information from Google and have only been told we’ve been removed due to controversial content."[10]

References

  1. ^ a b "My Child Lebensborn – Press kit". Teknopilot. May 8, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  2. ^ "My Child Lebensborn tweet". Twitter. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Campbell, Colin (May 3, 2017). "A game about hatred, children and war". Polygon. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Parkin, Simon (June 9, 2018). "My Child Lebensborn review – could you raise a Nazi baby?". The Guardian. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  5. ^ Harris, Iain (June 26, 2018). ""The stories that they told us were so moving": The making of My Child Lebensborn". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  6. ^
    ISSN 2195-1349
    . Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Campbell, Colin (June 1, 2018). "A game about the child of a Nazi interrogates the complexities of bullying". Polygon. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Sowden, Emily (May 30, 2018). "My Child Lebensborn review – A digital pet you want to protect from the world". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  9. BAFTA
    . Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Riis, Jacob (April 10, 2019). "BAFTA winner My Child Lebensborn banned by Google". Nordic Game. Retrieved November 10, 2021.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=My_Child_Lebensborn&oldid=1208796161"