BRAINWASH GANG
The new Propaganda
How years of struggle led to Brainwash Gang revealing seven games at once
B y now we’re used to online showcases from publishers and platform holders, packaging a tranche of new games (or at least new trailers) into a single YouTubefriendly broadcast. But one from a single developer, with seven games squeezed into less than 15 minutes? That would have grabbed our attention even if the face of the presenter on screen hadn’t been hidden behind a balaclava. “We can’t afford to work on just one game,” she says, her voice distorted as if to protect the innocent, “because – what can I say – we just can’t seem to stop coming up with cool ideas.” This is The Brainwash Propaganda.
The brash presentation suits the games of Madrid-based development collective Brainwash Gang rather well. The titles on show range from sidescrolling shooters to slice-of-life musicals, but they all share a certain swagger. Grotto is a broken-telephone narrative game in which you can communicate only by drawing in the stars. Friends Killing Friends is a 1v1 FPS with a built-in card game. Laika: Aged Through Blood gives you a motorbike and a gun that reloads whenever you backflip.
“The point of making seven different games is that we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket”
On top of these conceptual twists, each game has its own striking visual aesthetic – monochromatic pixel art; 3D cartooning; hand-drawn in pen strokes – that sits apart from, but comfortably alongside, those of the other titles. The whole thing is tied together by the songs of Beícoli, Brainwash’s resident musician and the woman behind the balaclava. The stream ends on a theme tune, with the catchy chorus “Give us your money now”.