Luna YiXi Wu

The Lake Has No Tide, Video game, 2023

"The Lake Has No Tide" is a narrative-driven simulation where you play the role of a lyric censor working in a government censorship agency. Your job is quite simple: identify inappropriate words and make modifications. Congratulations, you are now the guardian of social harmony for eight hours every day. But what about after those eight hours – who are you then?

As you sway on the bus home, do you find yourself staring into the eyes of a particular passenger? The voices you hear, the words you speak, where do they come from? Do they belong to you? Pages of paper pile up in front of you, much like the unspoken words, like the closed doors behind us, like the people who disappear from our lives. Those pages flipping, transient yet ceaselessly repeating, like the tide. I hope this game serves as a mirror, reflecting the contradiction between censorship and reflection in our society, while also revealing how language and memories accumulate, disappear, and surge like the tide in our lives.

Full version at: https://lunawoolf.itch.io/the-lake-has-no-tide

Artist’s link:

Personal Website: https://lunawoolf.itch.io/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunaw_yixi/