We Become What We Behold is a very cleverly constructed exploration of the Oroboros-esque way that sensationalist news feeds on itself, growing stronger with every cycle and dramatically impacting the lives and behaviour of regular citizens.
Note: Spoilers head, we recommend playing the game before reading on.
Your aim in We Become What We Behold is simple – take pictures of things deemed to be newsworthy. This starts off simply, with you just taking a picture of someone wearing a hat or a couple in love, but things get more sinister as your news station decides to chase more attention grabbing headlines that focus on the a rift between the ‘circles’ and the ’squares’.
The rift between the Circles and the Squares starts off quite inconsequentially, with a clinically insane looking Square shouting at a Circle. This is quickly reported as “#Crazed Square Attacks”, which then causes some Circles to be scared of Squares, which causes more headlines, which causes a bigger rift, which causes more headlines and so on.
Needless to say with the media stoking the fire things escalate very quickly, with mass pandemonium breaking out and everyone hating everyone. Lines can clearly be drawn to racial tensions in the USA, but the message behind the game is not just limited to that – the media has a powerful effect on many aspects of life all around the world. It doesn’t just report the news, by the selective and sensationalist way stories are reported the news actually can create the news.
We Become What We Behold is a well crafted and thought provoking game that gets its message across very clearly during its short five minute playtime – don’t get drawn in by the hysteria surrounding sensationalist news stories. Sure they report the facts, but a lot of the time they don’t report all of the facts – just the ones that sell newspapers and get high ratings. Take your news with a pinch of salt (and obviously never watch Fox News!)
Controls: Mouse – Take Picture
Available On: All Browsers
Play We Become What We Behold Here