Cdda How To Clean Clothes

Why We Should Play 'Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead' in the Time of COVID-19

The game is called Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. Well, I regret to say that the dark days have already arrived. Just in my country alone, the threat of the COVID-19 outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, has caused many deaths, lives that cannot be replaced.

Compounding the problem is how the government's primary response to this has been through the threat of violence. There are many examples of this, and recently the President has released what many terms to be a "tantrum" due to the alleged disobedience of citizens who do not follow the quarantine lockdown.

It's less a problem of 'who do not' than it is a problem of 'who can not', as many of these violators are often those whose livelihoods were suspended and potentially damaged by the quarantine. The government's response to its constituent's deprivation of needs is a further threat of punishment, equating complaint with dissent. A self-fulfilling prophecy, as this heavy-handedness creates the very same conditions they had originally claimed to exist. Maybe this was intentional.

One could see parallels here with the conditions that led to the Armenian Genocide, but I digress. This is about a video game, and why I think this is the time to play it.

The Game

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (CDDA) is a post-apocalyptic survival simulator set in New England after several bad things have ravaged the world. You mostly have a zombie plague, but you also have mutated wildlife, a fungal invasion, several species of aliens, robots, dinosaurs (optional), and more ready to kill you, eat you, or worse.

The main appeal that this game offers is its ability to simulate. A common answer to problems faced by new players (such as myself) is to think if it can be done in real life, then it can be done here. Limbs can be damaged and infected, needing you to find disinfectant and bandages. Eating junk food all the time will make you unhealthy. Fighting tires you out. A bed will make sleeping easier. Water must be boiled to make sure it is clean. Dirty clothes need to be washed. Etc, etc.

You are an ordinary person who is thrown into a world where there is no main goal other than to survive.

Graphics

The game's design is a bit different from what you might expect. It doesn't have 3D graphics or any of what triple-A games usually have on offer. CDDA and other roguelikes (I'll get to this term below) often go for ASCII graphics, which will look like this:

To explain, the brown box is a house, the brown dots outside are empty grass fields, and the @ sign is you, the player. The symbols you see inside are items, furniture, sinks, and some blood.

This art style is often chosen either due to aesthetic preference or because hiring on an artist wasn't in the budget. To be honest, I'm not a fan of ASCII. Fortunately, there are options to change what you see into something a bit different:

The same screenshot, but understandable.

Many are turned away by either style, but I personally like pixel art because the values can be easily understood, and much of the description comes from the text. This is a game where you will do a lot of reading, and it is your imagination that will decide whether you will like what you see. The design of the game is something you must be willing to commit to, as it brings many rewards.

Difficulty

CDDA is a "roguelike", a game genre that is less about graphics and more about randomized locations, interactivity, and dying a lot. This genre is inspired by the game 'Rogue', which is also where the genre gets the name from. I personally like roguelikes, but to be clear, I am bad at them. Games like Dwarf Fortress, Cataclysm, and even Rimworld are games that I love dearly and yet I can never fully master. In that, I must admit to my lack of patience.

The controls are almost archaic. Each letter on your keyboard has a function, and lowercase and uppercase commands can be radically different. I could 'e'xamine things with the e key, but once I hold Shift I would be trying to 'E'at things nearby. Movement is accomplished by the Numpad or the arrow keys. You can interact with the world in a lot of different ways. You can eat, sleep, read, mutate, become a cyborg, grab shopping carts, steal a car, or play the guitar using only your keyboard.

The first piece of advice in roguelikes is to expect to die, a lot. You will die from many things. A zombie horde could rip you limb from limb. You could overdose on pills. You could freeze to death in winter. You could burn to death. You could also take your own life. The game expects death so much they have a dedicated button for it (Q). You will spend a lot of time learning just how to operate the game, and then a lot more time learning about the game world.

Once you get the hang of it, you'll begin to scavenge and create makeshift tools and weapons to survive. You could make a crossbow out of curtain string and pieces of wood, or use a frying pan as a weapon (as seen in Tangled). Place bubble wrap underneath your front door so you know if there are unwanted guests outside. You could find a car and transform it into your personal home fortress.

Computer Requirements

The game doesn't need high-quality gaming rigs. Most machines can run this, so there's no cost barrier to this game. You can enjoy this almost on anything. There is even a mobile version!

The Community

The creators of the game are very responsive to their fans. They respond quickly to concerns and oftentimes the problem is solved within the day. They genuinely care about the people playing their game. It makes me hope that maybe the national government can extend the same level of compassion these people have for this.

The Reason to Play

There is no escape from the effects of privilege. From those who were born inside its bubble, to those who are choked by being pressed against it. Politics is often seen as an intrusion into the private lives of those who live safely in well-stocked homes. The cry to "not be political" and to prioritize the medical issue is to turn a blind eye to how the issue of medicine has come under the domain of the military, and how the problem we are facing is exacerbated by hunger, unrest, and overuse of coercive power. To say no to politics is to say no to solving problems.

To say that one 'understands' the situation of the less fortunate is thrown around carelessly; it is a garnish for the coming statement that will often be out-of-touch, and elitist.

Cataclysm presents a world in crisis, in several crises that compete with each other to be the harbinger of our destruction. You will have to use your wits to survive. Everything can be destroyed. Cooperation with other people is key. There is a need to interact with a dangerous world to survive and live your life, but one must be prepared to face challenges and to be taken by surprise.

The game offers not an escape from reality, but an exercise in imagination and survival. It offers an engaging (although initially challenging) experience to play while you're cooped up inside, and it's also a reminder that it closely parallels realities outside of your home, and it could be your own as well. CDDA reminds us that the best way to survive is to think, plan, and prepare for the dark days ahead.