We Become What We Behold

“We Become What We Behold” is a poignant point-and-click game that encapsulates the impact of media on society, illustrating how quickly ordinary moments can spiral into chaos under the watchful eye of public scrutiny. In this game, you wield a camera, capturing snapshots of everyday characters and broadcasting them onto a television screen where everyone can see. This seemingly simple act of selecting which images to share can have profound effects on the behavior and attitudes of the characters.

The game arena is a public square where various characters, such as normal peeps with square or round heads, a fancy man with a hat, a couple in love, and an angry person, go about their daily lives. Each character reacts differently to how they are portrayed in the media. For instance, photographing the fancy man with the hat makes wearing hats suddenly popular among the normal peeps until it becomes overly common and loses its appeal.

The depiction of the couple in love initially brings a warm response but quickly turns to shame, demonstrating society’s fickleness and how affection can be scrutinized when overly exposed. However, it’s the angry person who truly demonstrates the game’s core message. Capturing their anger leads to fear and hostility among the community, accelerating a cycle of negative emotions that feeds back into itself, creating a vicious cycle of media-induced hysteria.

As the game progresses, the atmosphere intensifies. The community becomes increasingly polarized, with fear and anger leading to outright violence. This escalation shows how sensationalism in media can amplify the worst of human behaviors, leading to a destructive climax.

“We Become What We Behold” is a critical reflection on the power of media to shape societal norms and the responsibility that comes with it. It challenges players to think about the consequences of what they choose to highlight or ignore in their daily consumption and creation of news. The game’s message is clear: the tools we use to observe the world around us ultimately shape our reality, for better or for worse.

Made by Nicky Case, support the developer on Patreon.

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