Animal Farm is being turned into an adventure game

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Co-developed by the creators of Reigns.

George Orwell's famous parable, Animal Farm, is getting an adventure game from The Dairymen and Reigns creator Nerial. It promises to let you "experience firsthand the corrupting nature of power," which sounds just lovely.

As well as deciding which animals to side with as society threatens to collapse into totalitarianism, there will be management elements to deal with. You need to "balance resources, defend the farm, and keep the animal population happy." Fundamentally it will be a narrative experience in which "you decide which animals are most equal of all."

The game is being produced in tandem with the Orwell Estate and is written by award-winning interactive fiction designer Emily Short. 

It will be interesting to see if there's any way to subvert the farm's inevitable spiral into dictatorial rule, or whether the game will use its systems to lock you into that tragic downfall. Games like Papers, Please have shown that nudging the player into a compromised, even corrupt position, can be effective commentary on the nature of power. There's a rich seam to be explored here, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the devs do with it.

Orwell's Animal Farm is due out in Autumn this year, and there's a Steam page up if you want to wishlist it.

Tom Senior
Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.