Anyone dreading Valentine’s Day can take their romantic rage out on Cupid in a new first-person shooter created by New York City women.
“Death to Cupid: An Anti-Valentine’s Day Game,” by new media company Damn Joan, turns the tables on the “diapered demon” and gives you the bow and arrow.
The web-based game channels classics like the 1993 video game “Doom.” As you run through a museum of columns, large vases and sculptures, you run into winged cherubs, but some of their faces are really familiar — Drake, Fabio, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, and of course, Ryan Gosling. Other Cupids hold annoying signs that accost your cold, dead heart like “You will die alone.”
Your goal is to shoot them dead with “The Bow of Justice” until you unlock the next “more violent” weapon, “The Claw of Bloody Vengeance.”
The game, designed by Joe Laquinte, animated by Will Herring, with hilariously dramatic music by James Warburton, also includes some “Easter eggs,” so keep an eye out for amusing characters and items.
Damn Joan aims to give players a cathartic experience that gets them thinking about Valentine’s Day in a different way — seeing its commercial foundation, according to Denetrias Charlemagne, a member of the company.
“While Valentine’s Day involves many things I enjoy — sex, romance, candy and flowers — it’s also a symbol of how all those things have been tied to money and the pressure to be in a relationship,” said Mikki Halpin, the editor-in-chief of damnjoan.com. “What better way to reclaim the holiday than by killing Cupid? I felt better as soon as I thought of it.”
Damn Joan, based in Manhattan, is an irreverent and provocative online monthly magazine that includes personal stories, social, political and style statements. The game is part of its most recent issue titled “The Hunt” about seeking and pursuing the things you desire — just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Well, go ahead, lock and load here.
