Something as simple as a police officer taking off his helmet to wipe his brow at dusk tells the player everything they need to know. Without dialogue and an art style that doesn’t bode well for nuance, the team has managed to use simple and often emotive imagery to convey the story and the emotions of those involved, which is a great feat. Set in Spain, Egypt, Greece and Italy respectively, each has its own unique look and feel, and one of the most striking parts of RIOT – Civil Unrest is the cutscenes that play before each level. In its story mode, RIOT – Civil Unrest contains four campaigns with four levels each: Indignados, Arab Spring, Keratea and NoTAV. His first-hand experience really adds to the honest, delicate, and respectable representation of all the riots depicted in the game. Creator Leonard Menchiari took an experience he had at the NoTAV protests in Italy – one of the campaigns in the game – and created RIOT – Civil Unrest to express the tensions and feelings created through riots. Each side is split into separate groups, with the player able to control each group’s movements, and abilities/items. You can play all scenarios as either police or rioters. To depict these real life riots, developers Leonard Menchiari and IV Productions opt for a real time strategy simulation. Players can build their own custom levels too in a confusing UI, but those willing to put in the time will be rewarded with an in-depth creation tool. The UI design leaves a lot to be desired, however ugly menus are hard to read and overly cumbersome to navigate. The grim pixel art juxtaposed with real life riots helps ground the game in the events depicted – it creates simple, grimly beautiful visuals. I was instantly drawn to the art style of RIOT – Civil Unrest a pixel art style you’d usually expect to see from a more colourful game.

It’s a shame the gameplay often lets down the great direction with plenty of irritating bugs and balance issues.

Great care is put into representing the historical riots portrayed in RIOT – Civil Unrest.

Riot civil unrest sim