Umurangi Generation

Umurangi Generation is a first-person photography simulation video game developed by Origame Digital and released for Microsoft Windows in May 2020.

The game allows the player multiple methods, techniques and opportunities for achieving their photography bounties, as well as complete freedom over any editing or effects put on photos.

The player travels around settings such as a rooftop party, a military checkpoint, a battle and an evacuation train to take pictures along with their friends, Micah, Atarau, Kete, and a chinstrap penguin named Pengi.

[3] In-game advertisements and images provide further context, such as local resistance against the UN occupation, the prime minister being away on holiday during the crisis, and a dangerous contagious parasite epidemic.

The game ends with a cataclysmic scene of a shadowy creature perched over a mountain as the player walks towards a beach where several spirits of Māori people, mud crabs and Huia overlook the catastrophe.

[5][6] Faulker views the game as a criticism of neoliberalism, stating that the goal of the political system is to comfort people in the face of elements that serve to harm them.

"Umurangi" is Te Reo for "Red Sky," and feathers of the Huia, a traditional bird used in Māori ritual that was hunted to extinction, appear throughout the game.

[14][15] Khee Hoon Chan gave the game a 9/10 for GameSpot, and praised its beautiful environments and engaging photography mechanic, as well as its biting social commentary that served to reinvigorate the ideas behind cyberpunk from a new perspective.