Casual racism meets predictable puzzles – Can You Escape - Holidays Review

This game is your standard escape game with a unique theme: each room represents a commonly celebrated holidays in the us: Christmas, Chinese New Years, st Patrick’s Day, Presidents’ Day , etc. While I appreciate the inclusiveness of celebrating some holidays that are not associated with WASPS (with the exception of excluding Jewish holidays), I found MLK day to be blatantly racist at worst, insensitive at best. It was the only holiday that involved symbolic violence (SPOILERS AHEAD): the room looks drab; the banner above the door looks well-worn and isn’t legible like the other rooms, the puzzles involved what I assume is the .30-06 caliber rifle bullet that was used to assassinate MLK jr. and breaking a framed historical article about mlk jr that talks about racism and bias in America. Behind the article are numbers written with red paint that has streaks that has drip-dried. Why choose something that could be interpreted as text written in blood? Also, you have to type in the year he was assassinated to escape the room. So either the developers have a great analysis around race and are trying to make a point about the public’s lack of care around the holiday and black people In general, or developers have deliberately chosen violence to commemorate an individual who is historically significant and recognized for many more important matters. Presidents’ Day is a featured holiday in this game. Kennedy and Lincoln are featured. Both were assassinated, though nothing made mention of that despite Kennedy’s assassination is one of the most famous in history (due to it being filmed). So why did the developers make these choices? And if there was one developer who made these choices for mlk day, why wasn’t it noticed by several other employees who provided graphics, tested, and ultimately approved the game? I hope someone from this company sees this and, instead of becoming defensive or dismissing me as some sensitive libtard, actually recognizes the implications in making a game that associates violence with a black person. A black person, who, no less, is featured by themes of peace and civil rights. Because that’s what symbols do: they make a subtle (or not so) association between two subjects. And, creepy: Why are there dozens of little bugs crawling on the wall for the Easter level? It has nothing to do with the game.
Review by Alexislair on Can You Escape - Holidays.