All Will Rise devs ‘definitely expect some pushback from Western audiences’ over its depiction of violent resistance and ecoterrorism
All Will Rise is a narrative-driven deckbuilder where you debate and explore ideas through the cards you’ve unlocked and upgraded. It’s also a passionate story about the murder of a river, activism, about holding the powerful to account—using both the law, but also ecoterrorism and violent action.
It’s a topic that’s more important than ever, as we watch the world burn and drown—a harrowing situation both caused and exacerbated by human negligence and greed.
Here in the UK, activism is being severely clamped down on by the government and police, and even non-violent activists are risking their freedom to fight against climate change or the genocide in Palestine—or even to just voice their support. Meanwhile, in the US, violent right-wing activists who tried to overturn a legitimate election were pardoned by Donald Trump, and ICE is killing immigration activists. The rules about what is and what isn’t acceptable in regards to activism have been tossed out the window.
But All Will Rise is not set in the West—it takes place in Muziris, a fictional city in a world adjacent to our own. India serves as an inspiration. And that’s an important context.
Well, nonviolence requires an audience. And a lot of these people, their oppression takes place in the forest, away from cameras.
Meghna Jayanth, narrative director
“Well, nonviolence requires an audience. And a lot of these people, their oppression takes place in the forest, away from cameras. If a bunch of cops arrive in the middle of the night to your home and then try to violently displace you, what is the point of asking people who are already hungry to go on hunger strike? What are the means that people have to resist? And when you’re facing brutality and repression in that kind of way without an audience, your tactics have to be different.”
That’s the side of things that Jayanth and the team “really, really wanted to represent”—the plight of indigenous peoples and activists in the global South. People facing an existential crisis. “It’s impossible to sit here in the imperial core in the comfort of my own home and look at people facing suffering and oppression and indignity and repression of a sort that I could not even imagine, and say, ‘Well, I mean, have you really thought about the morality of your actions?'”
All Will Rise itself is both a debate and a conversation between people with opposing or differing views—sometimes between people on the same side. As a lawyer, Kuyili, who’s seeking justice for the murder of a river, you can expect to be “challenged on your opinions”, while also attempting to challenge the opinions of others.
Another character, Kottavai, represents Malm’s philosophy more. “I think it’s clear that she is a proponent of direct action and violence,” says Jayanth. Kottavai is a folk performer possessed by the god of the murdered river, and she harnesses spirituality to stir people into action. In this way, she’s using the tools of oppressors against them, just as the BJP—India’s far-right ruling party—uses spirituality to attack minorities.
“For every Martin Luther King, you need a Malcolm X,” says Jayanth. “And actually it’s through this coalition of forces rather than totally denying anyone who uses tactics that you don’t agree with—we actually need to understand all of these tactics as part of a broad coalition and leverage it.”
All Will Rise invites debate—Speculative Agency strongly desires it, even. The team would consider it a failure on their part if everyone agreed with them. There’s a conversation to be—and it is happening—about what action is necessary to reverse the destruction of the environment. And Speculative Agency also wants to push back against the image of activists being “boring” Birkenstock-wearing do-gooders.
“It’s not boring,” says Jayanth. “I think it’s the farthest thing from boring.”
Personally, I’m fascinated to see the response when compared to other games featuring ecoterrorists—the most famous of which is probably Final Fantasy 7. It’s very much a story of direct, violent action—and one that doesn’t really give you any options. You aren’t debating Shinra—you’re blowing up its power stations and killing its soldiers. And there was very little pushback, either in 1997 or when the remake appeared. But it’s also a game with surprisingly little to say about its themes. It’s more concerned with big swords, big fights and a big adventure. So you never really need to think too hard.
All Will Rise doesn’t have a release date yet, but you can check out the demo now.
