GAME CLEAR No. 245 -- 1000xRESIST
video games game clear sunset visitor fellow traveler nintendo switch1000xRESIST (2024, Switch/PC)
Developer: Sunset Visitor
Publisher: Fellow Traveler
Clear Version: Switch
Clear Platform: Switch 2
Clear Date: 7/31/25
| Why should I care? |
|---|
| 1000xRESIST is a gripping narrative adventure and as thought-provoking as video games come. |
Sphere to square
Man, I’m really struggling with what to write about 1000xRESIST. It’s one of the best-written games I’ve ever played. That’s not a particularly high bar, but I really do think it has a wonderful narrative that is worthy of praise against any standard. The richness of its text warrants revisiting and chewing on, but that doesn’t really work with this sort of serial game journal I have going here. I can endorse it unequivocally, but I don’t feel fully prepared to break down its themes and ideas in a post like this.
In the briefest possible terms, 1000xRESIST uses a combination alien invasion/pandemic to tell a story about generational trauma, being a diaspora kid, the value of protesting and acting against imperialism against the odds and surviving through the consequences thereof. Among other things.
The aforementioned invasion and subsequent pandemic left just one human survivor, Iris. The player character, Watcher, is one of a society of clones of Iris that constitute the last extant cluster of population. Her story takes place 1,000 years after the invasion. Her name is also her role in that society: she must engage in “communion” with her other sisters to view the memories of Iris, known now as ALLMOTHER.
Through these visions, the cracks in the sunny narratives she has been fed by her society begin to show. Her reckoning with that has dramatic consequences, as serious reckoning with state and/or religious indoctrination often can.
To say much more about the story’s events would be to spoil a tale that is a real pleasure to watch unfold. But I will say that Sunset Visitor has carefully crafted a tale that feels human and vulnerable. It features a cast of characters who are flawed and mistake-prone at every turn yet who nevertheless demand compassion. It encourages persistence in the face of incalculable loss. That, if nothing else, is the kind of reminder we all need tucked away in our hearts from time to time.
Despite being a heavily narrative “walking sim” experience, it also justifies its choice of medium brilliantly. Its world deserves to be explored on foot and in person, so to speak. At every turn, the camera’s position is tuned with great intentionality. During dialog, it captures just the right faces and angles. During the dreamlike communion sequences, it offers views of expansive dreamscapes.
The views are beautiful, too. The game’s graphics are somewhat low-fidelity, but its art style and character designs squeeze the most out of it, even on the rather underpowered Switch. The soundtrack that accompanies your travels through the beautiful world of 1000xRESIST suits it just right too. There is a level of effort and attention to detail in every aspect of this game that allows Sunset Visitor’s small team to punch above its weight.
I hope you will give this one a shot. I expect I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.