Philippine horror game Hapunan talks about the escape from the brutality of the police and the sale of duck eggs is fertilized

Today I knew about Balut, a street food of the Philippines. It is a duck egg fertilized, boiled or steamed, in which you can still see the duck embryo when you chew. I was too old to explore this gain taste at a year, but I was not too old to let Waltz down the horror path in Itch.io, throwing Retro Jumpscarers into my basket. It was the place where the first Philippine’s thrilling game could be found that Hapunan could be found. You play a young street food seller selling eggs in a quiet corner late at night. Naturally, something alarming is happening. There was a conversation on the radio of dangerous folk at night …

For most parts, it is a horror game by-the-numbers. There is darkness illuminated by a flashlight. There are moments when you turn to look at someone suddenly on your face. And there is an increase in the exponential of Schlock when the game 20-30 minutes reaches the end. The last scene is strange, proving that everyone is horror and secret comedy is the same genre. But like Balut itself, there are some worrying veins hidden under this shell.

I like the scene for one thing – a cramped family house in a quiet neighborhood, its windows and doors all need to be locked before you go to work. The faces of your family, your customers and the head of the local government are shown by the low pheoorm of a N64 game. Imagine the Golden Eye scientists if they are all wearing shorts and T -shirts and desperate to buy a pork cover (something else you sell is Chicharon).

After that, there were faces of Creeppopasta twisters of threatening characters hidden in the dark one night when you were about to start selling. Your mother heard all about these men on the radio. A murder “paid to kill” has spread throughout the country. You soon discover that the horror of this game is not a ghost entity or other world. But the simple brutality of a gun.

In 2017, the Philippines witnessed the increase of illegal murders, the result of a “persecution” by former President Rodrigo Duterte. Police officers have been proposed to pay for killing anyone they consider to be a suspect of many different crimes. Police and other culprits killed 30,000 civilians. Amnesty internationally called it a “murder of the poor” created “an informal economy of death”. The game is not clear about any of this, but then maybe it doesn’t need it. The faces of the gunmen wearing a permanent smile. At a time, you were given a license by the captain to sell your food in the local government office. It says “safe” in large, not convincing letters.

In other words, it is a short paragraph of the Philippines Hombrew Horror has a slightly more recent history behind it than the first appearance. A reminder that sometimes horror actually happens. Hapunan is currently $ 3.99 on itch.io. That is the cost of 16 baluts.