Here’s some news I didn’t expect to see in my inbox this morning: George Orwell’s 1945 novel Animal Farm is coming to PC and mobile devices this year as a new video game.
The news comes as a celebration of Animal Farm turning 75 years old with Orwell’s estate giving their blessing to the project. The developers behind it are actually something of an indie collective, with The Dairymen and Nerial, who you might remember from the Reigns series, teaming up to release the game this autumn.
As for what kind of game it will be, Orwell’s Animal Farm might be closest to a management sim with the need to balance resources, make sure the farm is defended, and maintain happiness (and order) among the animals.
Here’s the trailer for Orwell’s Animal Farm:
Along with a clutch of screenshots:
Imre Jele, founder of the project:
“Animal Farm is a literary masterpiece which uses deceptively simple language to accurately describe the downfall of communism from the dream of equality into totalitarian oppression. The fate of the farm was all too real for me growing up in totalitarian Hungary.
History seems to repeat itself. And once more, Orwell’s classic has become a painfully relevant warning as some Western democracies started using tools and language eerily similar to those of oppressive regimes of the past.
I’ve long wanted to explore how, through video gaming, we could design an experience which immerses the player in Orwell’s vision, and in Nerial we found the perfect partner to make this happen.“
Featuring narration from Abubakar Salim, who you may remember for his turn as Bayek in Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Orwell’s Animal Farm looks like it will cause plenty of discussion — as is the point — when it launches later this year for Steam and mobile.
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