Local indie game Beautiful Desolation launches on console next month, ek sê

Cape Town studio The Brotherhood is prepping its post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic Afropunk-’em-up for launch on PS4 and Switch.

Funded with a $138,457 Kickstarter campaign in 2017, Beautiful Desolation first launched on PC in 2020. According to designer Chris Bischoff, the game has since been completely reworked for consoles – a project that included rebuilding and rendering every in-game interface element for each console to include the relevant buttons.

“There’s me digging through 3D files I made four years ago,” he tells me, “swearing at myself for not naming anything properly.”

Noob mistake, bro.

"You are flung into a futuristic, alternate-reality South Africa dominated by advanced alien technology that’s both revered and reviled. Explore, solve puzzles, make key dialogue choices and be prepared to face tough decisions in a sci-fi setting left pretty much untouched by other games. From thriving African sci-fi villages to crumbling tropical cities. Mutated forests and bone-dry ocean beds – all beautifully rendered in 2D isometric art.

Humanity as you know it has been reshaped, something most evident from the characters in Beautiful Desolation. Technology and sentient life have become totally blurred. Religious zealot mechs run rife. Humans willingly stripped of their flesh for immortality. Trans-humanistic tribes warring for power. And ruthless alien-like hunter mercenaries roaming the grasslands – to name but a few. Meet and interact with over 40 unique and bizarre characters, each fully voiced by authentic African voice actors, with thousands of lines of dialogue and multiple conversation paths. Additionally, CGI cutscenes are strewn throughout the story to bring you even closer to this enthralling sci-fi world and its characters."

Beautiful Desolation launches on PS4 and Switch on 28 May.

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