Minority Media isn’t afraid to broach difficult, sensitive issues that most video games tend to stay away from. The team’s first release, Papo & Yo, dealt with a real-life story of an abusive father. Now, the first trailer for the follow-up, Silent Enemy, has been revealed as a top-down adventure centered on the team’s experiences with bullying.
Really, Minority doesn’t seem to be a studio too concerned with making fast-paced, addictive gameplay experiences. The top-down, third-person mechanics shown are a departure from what was seen in the first game, but this is a game that "aims to understand bullying and develop empathy through an entertaining interactive experience.”
“Bullying is something that has affected everyone,” said senior programmer Paul DeMarco. “I feel that pretty much everyone’s in three categories: you bullied people, you were a bully or you sat on the side and watched. We’re looking at how we can get gameplay where the player will feel what it is to be in those situations.”
The “Crows” will represent the bullies that everyone has to face at least once in life, which are designed as a strange fusion of a human and a bird. They’re frightening to look at, matching the imposing persona of a bully.
Vander Caballero, co-founder of Minority Media and creator of Papo & Yo, claimed that the project began as an iOS game about survival hunting. However, the studio's creative director, Ruben Farrus, decided that it needed an emotional angle to fit in with the philosophy of game development embraced by Minority Media, and soon, Silent Enemy was created.
For anyone interested in experiencing the developer’s past work, Papo & Yo is available on Steam.
