TheQuartering [1/30/2023]
Steam gets a bunch of new games all the time, but one has been making headlines this week for its absurdly exorbitant $2,000 price tag. That game, The Hidden and Unknown, isn’t exactly worth your time, though, especially considering that it has this extremely long opening text crawl all about men’s rights and “the human cycle” of reproduction. Ew.
Developed by ProX.team, The Hidden and Unknown is the latest indie Steam game to capture some of the internet’s attention for a handful of reasons. Yeah, it really is $2,000. Yeah, it really takes less than two hours to finish. And yeah, it really does have a Star Wars-like opening scroll that’s eight minutes long and completely unskippable. These facets alone make the game somewhat curious for gamers like myself, those interested in what’s happening on Valve’s PC distribution platform. However, it’s the thesis of the opening sequence that has me raising my eyebrows as it posits that “most western men today are feminine” and “incapable of taking the lead.” In other words, soy boys are a no-no.
“There is an idea called The Human Cycle which cannot be stopped as long as humanity continues to exist,” begins The Hidden and Unknown’s opening text scroll. “This has been the case since the inception of civilization, however, with unprecedented advancements in science, things might not be the same as they used to be. Whereas previously only a small portion of people could afford being weak, the situation is different today. Most western men today are feminine, while most of the western women today are masculine. Men mistake being weak as being good so they do not offend females, while women take on the more masculine role as their men are pathetic, weak, and incapable of taking the lead.” This goes on and on for eight minutes straight, y’all.
But what is The Hidden and Unknown? Well, it’s a non-interactive visual novel about some kid named Brian, whom you never actually see. Brian is like most kids in that he plays soccer, goes to school, sleeps in his bedroom, hangs out with his friends (who you also don’t see), and plays browser-based video games. The only difference is that, after Brian grows disenfranchised from his friends because the (similarly unseen) girls are making fun of him, he somehow becomes connected to the Super Artificial Intelligence 2123, which is actually just Brian from the future trying to save this digital world from the brink of extinction due to a lack of baby making. You see, Brian, now disillusioned and detached from everyone and everything, isn’t interested in relationships or reproducing now that his boys have turned on him and the girls are mocking him. 2123, this AI that supposedly strikes a balance between masculine and feminine energies, wants to help Brian make friends again and, ultimately, find love to prevent “this extinction-level danger” that is non-population growth.