The experimental game studio Wristwork have released a playable demo for ‘FACEMINER’, their first public-facing video game, along with a new trailer. The demo is available to play immediately on Steam for PC and Mac, with a Linux version downloadable on Itch. Set within a vintage corporate computer system, players are challenged to build an A.I. surveillance empire from scratch in this dystopian narrative-driven simulation game. The demo reveals approximately the first 45 minutes of gameplay, and can be played on Steam (PC/MAC) and Itch (Linux).
Link to demo announcement trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4A5hSc34ck
Game Description
Set against a backdrop of 90s techno-optimism, FACEMINER is an experimental, narrative-driven management sim that tasks the player with building a biometric processing empire from scratch. The player must manage hardware and software upgrades, warehouse infrastructure, and crooked carbon offsetting schemes as they carve out their biodata empire — all from within a suite of vintage corporate software.
Designed to illustrate the mechanisms of data harvesting and machine learning model creation, the player must juggle internal bureaucracy and external market forces as they become a facial classification tycoon. FACEMINER thrusts the player into a world of planetary-scale data management; storage shortages, server meltdowns, and global climate catastrophe represent various ways the game can end on the road to data supremacy.
Studio lead Alex Taylor writes: “FACEMINER is the result of a research project examining the ecological impact of planetary-scale cloud computing, particularly when used for training AI models. The game incorporates exponential growth as a game mechanic to highlight the winner-takes-all nature of cloud computing, where datasets and the server farms housing them grow dramatically year-on-year in both their size and value. The game is an exploration of how the simulation game format can be used to simplify a complex topic that covers surveillance, AI, and the deployment of physical infrastructure at extreme scales.”
About Wristwork:
Wristwork is an artist-led independent game and interactive media studio, established in 2021. Their focus is on creating cerebral shortform interactive media and video game content. Find out more via contact@wristwork.com or at https://www.wristwork.com