Stylish apocalyptic snapshot Umurangi Generation is now on Game Pass

rockpapershotgun.com:

The devastatingly stylish first-person photography game Umurangi Generation arrived on Game Pass today, so here's me to nudge you to try one of our favourite games of 2020 (and 2021's IGF Grand Prize winner). I can't think of many other games which have you photographing scenes of daily life and struggle amidst a Neon Genesis Evangelion-grade cataclysmic kaiju event. It looks and sounds fantastic, too, with cool Jet Set Radio vibes.

Umurangi Generation is set in the retro-futuristic city of Tauranga, Aotearoa (New Zealand). It's contained within walls errected by the UN while jets and giant mechs and monsters battle outside, with distinctly Evangelion-y apocalyptic consequences. Each level is a snapshot of a place, a small section of city to explore as a photographer with a checklist of objects you must photograph.

So off you go, exploring a rooftop, or a street party in a block locked down after a severed mech arm fell on it, or a condemned housing district, or a train buffet car filled half with soldiers and half with civilians as it rattles across a bridge through twisted ruins over pink waters. And you'll be looking to snap photos of subjects like a kiwi, or two rifles, at least four spray cans, or 20 sticky notes, with some requiring you use a specific lense types. Some subjects are quite hidden and some can be fiendish little puzzles, perhaps being of graffiti rather than an object, or requiring careful framing to fit in objects or chop up text.

Some photographs turn into a frustrating pixel hunt. Levels being on a timer makes that worse. And the movement can be mighty janky. These irksome bits could ruin some games but I'm very happy to push through in Umurangi Generation. And hunting for objects does at least