Review: Heroland (Sony PlayStation 4)

Review by Matt S.

As a publisher, FuRyu has never been adverse to taking on projects that tackle some astoundingly complex, nuanced topics. The Caligula Effect was a deconstruction on supernormal stimulants and the potential for virtual existence. Lost Dimension took the prisoner's dilemma questions of Danganronpa and ramped it up to 11. Now there's Heroland, which is on the one hand as laugh out loud funny as you would expect from a game made by key creatives from Mother 3. On the other hand, it's also a rather sharp and scathing criticism of capitalist systems, and as my corner of Australia has become genuinely unlivable, with air pollution from the smoke created by climate change-fueled bushfires reaching as much as 12x the maximum level to be safe, a bit of criticism thrown that way has been some welcome vindication indeed. I might not be able to breathe, but the team behind Heroland sure landed a gotcha.

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