If you’re Very On Twitter, you probably already know about the shitposter @dril. If you don’t (or you do and just don’t quite get this corner of the internet), Dril’s tweets blur the boundaries of satire, reality, and gauche humor. On Friday, he revealed that he’s developing an action/adventure game and it seems very on-brand.
A 2D future —
According to Dril’s Patreon, “the game follows the quest of a silent protagonist who stumbles upon the gift of immortality in a dangerous future where Top Influencers and corrupt hollywood [sic] guys maintain a cruel grip on society.” The game will span roughly a dozen worlds where players can unearth treasures and secrets from the point of view of a police officer.
There are a few non-player characters, both friend and foe, in this world. Some of these characters may be Easter eggs for Dril’s fans, but there are potential issues with the game reaching farther than his sphere of influence.
Why a cop? —
The author and Internet personality has a long history of cop-related tweets that range from outlandish arrest scenarios to identifying as a cop. In a country where many are trying to at least reform, if not completely abolish, the police, and a world recently rocked by countless protests against police brutality, a game whose “silent protagonist” appears to be a cop feels out of touch.
The way media in general often venerates law enforcement, or at least humanizes them, is increasingly viewed as “copaganda.” When asked if he had concerns about this choice, especially should the game reach an audience beyond his fans, Dril said that the main character is a marine impersonating a cop “so it’s fine.”
The military’s role in society is certainly much more complex and not without its own critics. Trying to place the reasoning for this origin story just underscores how Dril forces you to expect the unexpected. The demo shows the main character carrying a pig through a level as well as MAGA-like villains and hovering surveillance cameras, so it does seem self-aware and difficult to judge without full context.
If he continues to work on the game solo, the release date is vaguely set for the mid-2020s. Should he get enough patrons to pay additional developers, however, we could be seeing Copgame much sooner.
