1979 The Revolution: Black Friday, An Excellent Experience, an Average Game
iNK Stories and N-Fusion Interactive have taken the Telltale Games formula and applied it to a series of events that redefined a nation: the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It combines dialogue choices, quick-time events, and a codex akin to historical footnotes for a narrative loosely guided by three young men. Reza Shirazi, the player’s character, is a photographer documenting the revolution at the behest of his childhood friend, Babak. Players are quickly given the opportunity to take on a more insurrectionist role, and are encouraged by another character, Ali, to set aside the camera for a rock to throw at the police.
This choice, the balance between non-violent protest and full blown uprising, lies at the core of 1979 The Revolution in a way I’m still struggling with. Is a peaceful option relevant if it won’t survive? Is a violent movement better than the alternative? If you sacrifice your ideals to succeed, have you really succeeded? I don’t know- and The Revolution won’t tell me. Instead, it only makes you consider the struggle of people who have made that choice, are making that choice, and will make that choice in the future. In forcing me to think heavily on this and in telling the story of Ali, Babak, and Reza, 1979 The Revolution: Black Friday succeeded. Its failings lie in the most interactive trappings- it’s most game-like elements.
First and foremost- for a game that has you progressing down decision trees constantly and includes a Telltale-esque “Babak will remember that,” your selections don’t seem to have much of a meaningful impact outside of the immediate scene. This may in fact be a good thing, as the tone of your answers can vary wildly from what you had imagined; iNK Stories would have benefitted from something akin to Mass Effect’s Paragon/Renegade delineation. In that same vein, silence is not always an option, instead, if a timer runs out Reza will reply with a pre-determined line which sometimes felt contrary to how he had behaved based on previous choices. Finally, several of the quick-time events and interactions felt tacked on and broke up my interest in the story. Speaking as someone who doesn’t play many of them, I think The Revolution 1979 may have been better served as a visual novel, offering players a more focused narrative and dropping many of the interactive sections.
These issues are not the reason I will not be playing through the game for a second or third time. I’m not interested in redoing my choices and seeing the alternatives because I am content with the story iNK Stories and N-Fusion led me through. It wasn’t happy, and I think it could have been improved upon, but from an early confrontation with Ali, to a discussion of faith and power with other revolutionaries, and to a quiet moment of reassurance from Reza’s father, the story that was told is mine. I won’t play through the game again, but that doesn’t mean it’s done with me. Despite its technical stumbles, 1979 The Revolution: Black Friday serves as a lens to not only learn about one of the defining moments of the last century, but to also consider the question, “What are my ideals worth?” It’s a question I am going to spend a long time thinking about.
