As the fireworks whistle through the sky, and American flags are unfurled across the USA in preparation for the celebrations of the 4th July, developer Samurai Punk are adding their own cheeky flavour to the festivities with an update to its satirical virtual reality (VR) shooter, The American Dream.
The American Dream is a darkly humorous parody of American culture and stereotypes. Set in an apparently idyllic World Fair, the title takes users through an on-rail exploration of gun culture by forcing players to attempt to complete everyday tasks like cooking using only a gun.
The new updates includes the ‘American Mode’ free for all users, which revels in patriotic pride and enjoy all things American, like gun, flags eagles, and of course, even more guns. The new update features a typical 4th July celebration, where players will need to use the only tool you ever need, he trust gun, to flip burgers on the barbecue, open a beer and light off fireworks.
VRFocuspreviously gave their verdict on The American Dream in a review, where it was said: “Yet this is a videogame about guns, and as such every interaction in the experience requires you to shoot something or at least hit it with a pistol. There’s no need to worry about ammo as the chair/cart that you’re sat in has an infinite amount of ammo. Once your gun is dry just hit the button on the arm rest and a slow motion sequence begins, firing a clip into the air for you to catch with the gun. It’s a novel mechanic that’s fun to begin with, but at certain points in the title when things get a little more frantic it can be slightly haphazard, missing clips if you don’t get the gun just so.”
The Trailer for the new update is available to view below. As always, VRFocuswill continue to keep you informed on new updates and additions to VR titles and experiences.
America’s ongoing battle with itself over gun control pits a constitutional ammendment over the changing views of the populous, history and tradition over modern values and, in any ways, young vs old. As with all topics that are serious they become the subject of dark humor or satire, being lampooned in some form as comedians, writers, satirists, point out just how silly some things are in the first place.
Thus in the case of the sterotypical American love of firearms comes Samurai Punk’s videogame for PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift – The American Dream. Which presents the player with the question of, if you like guns so much, why don’t you just use guns for everything? Want to cook a burger? Better have a gun for that. Need to open a beer? Hope your aim is good. What about the bonding experience of throwing a football around the yard with your Dad? Well son, I think you mean shooting a football around. Players travel through a vast complex constructed by a group of respected gun manufacturers aiming to show the world the virtues of guns for the average American patriot.
“There’s so much to like about The American Dream that it feels like nagging when pointing out its faults.” Said VRFocus Senior Writer Peter Graham in his review of the title, which awarded The American Dream 4 out of 5.
We’ve got three codes for the PlayStation VR version on The American Dream up for grabs. These codes are claimable from the European PlayStation Store – so you’ll need a corresponding EU PlayStation account in order to claim and play it. To enter the draw usual practices apply, in that all you need do is to have some form of interaction with our social media accounts – which many of you do anyway. You’ll receive a draw entry for every one of the following actions below: Be a follower of us on Twitter, subscribe to us on YouTube, or visit our Facebook and Google+ pages.
The competition is open until the end of next week. Starting today, March 24th, 2018, and will end at midnight UK time, the beginning of March 30th. Winners will be drawn and contacted after that period. Best of luck!
One of the most interesting looking virtual reality (VR) titles to be launched this year is Samurai Punk’s dark satire on American gun culture, The American Dream. Essentially an on-rails first-person shooter (FPS), there’s far more to the videogame than meets the eye, poking fun yet answering serious questions about people’s love of the gun, a creation designed for one thing, killing. Naturally, VRFocus had to get a closer look at The American Dream, recording this gameplay video of a couple of the levels.
The main joke behind The American Dream is the focus on gun manufacturers and how they like to portray their weapons as a vital tool that every homeowner (American Patriot) needs. So Samurai Punk has taken this idea, sprinkled some Australian humour on it, and created a VR experience that can be sharply witty at points, and very dark in others.
How has the developer taken this to the extreme, well the video neatly addresses some of those questions by showcasing two stages. In the first VRFocus had to feed a baby, so using just a pair of pistols and plenty of bullets chopped up some fresh produce which went into a giant mixer. Then in the second area, it was time to do a spot of fishing using a trusty bolt-action rifle – no need to wait for a bite! To be honest these levels we’re fairly tame in comparison to some of the stages, which included giving people haircuts with a machine gun, changing baby’s nappy, or setting the mood for some late night action with a pump action shotgun.
With 20 stages to play though you can be certain things can only get weirder (and funnier) as the videogame progresses, just remember this is definitely not one for the kids. Check out the video below, or head on over to VRFocus‘ review of The American Dream to find out more. As always, keep coming back for more gameplay videos from VRFocus.
Gun culture can be a sensitive issue in some countries, with America well known for its stance, while other such as the UK and Australia have all but outright banned them due to shooting atrocities. Taking a darkly satirical look at the US’ love of guns is The American Dream by indie studio Samurai Puck, a virtual reality (VR) title that aims some cutting wit whilst providing some bizarre shooting gallery gameplay.
Set in the 1950’s during a World Fair, The American Dream takes you on a ride created by gun manufacturers to show you how awesome their weapons are, and how they can be used for everyday tasks. Set across individual rooms, each level encompasses a period of time in the idyllic life of an American Patriot. Starting as a baby you progress through childhood, adolescence, getting your first job, marriage, having kids and so on.
Yet this is a videogame about guns, and as such every interaction in the experience requires you to shoot something or at least hit it with a pistol. There’s no need to worry about ammo as the chair/cart that you’re sat in has an infinite amount of ammo. Once your gun is dry just hit the button on the arm rest and a slow motion sequence begins, firing a clip into the air for you to catch with the gun. It’s a novel mechanic that’s fun to begin with, but at certain points in the title when things get a little more frantic it can be slightly haphazard, missing clips if you don’t get the gun just so.
From your fixed on-rails position you’re tasked by a talking dog to complete various challenges to move on. Given the nature of The American Dream things are taken to ludicrous proportions, which range from the weird to downright funny. Cooking burgers, well a quick shot will flip them, or how about changing baby’s diaper, yup that requires a bullet to sort. Going fishing? Nobody uses a fishing rod, it’s all about your trusty bolt action rifle. And it’s like that for most of the videogame, which is great at first yet after an hour or so the repetition does start to grate a little.
Naturally there’s a mixture of guns, but nowhere near as many as you’d expect. Pistols are the standard weapon of choice, with certain levels allowing you to swap them out for a shotgun – that spits fire when pumped enough times – or the rifle for those distance shots. Each area is tailored to these guns so there’s no swapping weapons, this is very much a fixed ride where choice is limited.
And it’s that limited choice that can make The American Dream seem constrained, almost to the point of frustration that you can’t do more. Because what it does do is fantastic at points, the interwoven narrative, the stellar voice acting of Michael Dobson, and the wonderful graphical style all point towards a VR title expertly put together by Samurai Punk.
There’s so much to like about The American Dream that it feels like nagging when pointing out its faults. Some of you will love its humour and points of view on guns, but many will notice there’s not a massive amount to do, with hidden stars on each stage the only real reason to give it another go. There’s no doubt that The American Dream’s commentary on American gun culture will rile some, particularly at this point in the political landscape, nevertheless as a VR experience it’s certain worth your consideration.
The year is 2018 and The White House of the United States of America is still convinced that video games directly lead to violent behavior. They’re so convinced in fact that they met with lobbyists and CEOs to talk about it all and even made a highlight reel of some of the most violent scenes in modern gaming to support that argument.
This isn’t a fictional universe: it’s real life.
During a time in which America is embroiled in a contentious debate over the necessity and utility of openly available firearms following a slew of public shooting tragedies, video games find themselves at the center of it all. In that regard, The American Dream, a VR game from developers Samurai Punk that uses dark humor and wry sarcasm to address this very issue, feels about as politically topical as you can get — for better and for worse.
The premise of The American Dream is that you’re using VR to see a “brighter future” in which guns rule all aspects of life. You remember the classic kid comment of, “Well if you like ___ so much, why don’t you marry it?!” This is that, turned into a game, focused on guns. The idea is that if American society is so obsessed with guns that we can’t even relinquish them in the face of national tragedies, why don’t we just evolve to using them in all aspects of our lives?
So that’s what happens here. Each level of The American Dream is a different scene from a different phase of a typical American’s life. You see things from the POV of a baby in a crib as a mother points a gun at your mouth to feed you cereal, you’ll use a gun to shoot burger patties and make them flip on the grill, and even later on to take care of gardening frustrations in the backyard. After an hour or two the gameplay mechanics themselves start to feel increasingly repetitive which, to the developers’ credit, is part of the point — but that doesn’t make it any less monotonous to play after a while.
If all that sounds a bit ridiculous then, yeah, that’s on purpose. It’s supposed to be this totally outlandish and absolutely bonkers representation of gun culture as a method of revealing the absurdity of it all in the first place. It’s harsh commentary by way of parody. Something tells me Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators of South Park) would get along just fine with Samurai Punk’s writers.
The situations that you play through do a good job of maintaining a consistent tone, but it comes at the loss of communicating its message. This is a tricky topic and the developers don’t want to preach at the player, but a little more direct commentary or more overt criticism would have helped solidify the game’s purpose more strongly.
Everything is narrated by your trusty all-American dog companion, Buddy Washington, as you progress through each of the over 20 different vignette stages. While they may lack a real narrative thread connecting them all together, the tone and focus of each stage evolves as you delve deeper into the game’s “simulation” of America.
Over the course of the game, which should last most players about four or so solid hours, I found myself laughing quite a lot. My sense of humor lines up well with the writers and I’ve always been a fan of this sort of dark, sardonic take on otherwise heavy topics that typically avoid parody.
What really makes The American Dream work though, on a purely fundamental level, is the subtly of it all. The first hour or so of the game is purely silly with lots of direct jokes and witty humor, but by the time you reach the end things start to take on a much darker tone. Smiles on my face became grimaces and my occasional breaks from VR became breaks from my own mind. I’m not a gun nut by any means, but as someone that was born and raised in Texas, The American Dream is a game that forced me to reflect on certain things that I’d otherwise never have given a second thought.
Given some of the pacing issues and the partially inconsistent tone/messaging, I think The American Dream may have been better served to be just a bit shorter. Some of the stages feel unnecessary and don’t actually contribute to furthering the game’s message at all. For games like this all of the content needs to either communicate the core principles clearly or provide real gameplay entertainment and there are chunks of this experience that feel included for no reason other than padding the length.
I’m all for games taking stances on important cultural and political topics. Some of the most moving pieces of entertainment I’ve ever enjoyed have been video games and I see no reason why developers can’t use the medium to start hard, important conversations — especially in VR. The American Dream, more so than any other game I’ve played, really asked me to look at myself in the mirror and investigate my own personal relationship with guns and gun culture on a more intimate level.
Final Score:7/10 – Good
The American Dream’s dark, sardonic commentary about America’s gun culture comes at a poignant time in the country’s history. I hate having to put a numbered score on a game like this, but here I am anyway.
Using VR’s unique potential to tell powerful and insightful stories with stark, reflective criticism is on display in ways we haven’t seen before. The humor won’t land for everyone and the message will likely get misinterpreted or lost by some, but The American Dream raises questions that are absolutely worth discussing regardless of your stance on gun laws. This VR experience, despite the quirky visual style, is not for the faint of heart.
The American Dream is available as of today on Rift, Vive, and PSVR for $19.99. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.
Editor’s Note: Please keep the comments civil and respectful. We know that this is a sensitive topic and it’s impossible to discuss this particular game without also engaging in a discussion about guns in general.
The American Dream by Samurai Punk is just around the corner with a March 14th, 2018 release date set for later this week on PSVR, Rift, and Vive. We’ve been following the game for quite some time now with our first hands-on happening all the way back a year and a half ago at PAX West 2016.
In The American Dream you experience a fictional, dystopian future in which guns rule every aspect of our lives from driving, cooking, and even dancing around high school gymnasiums. The Australian-based game developer is crafting the game as a parody of American gun culture by taking situations to their extreme to ideally help expose issues in modern society.
With such a strong message, the game lightens its mood by employing multiple silly scenarios, comical voice acting, and a heavy dose of sarcasm. We definitely get a strong South Park-style vibe from this one.
You can see the final launch trailer for The American Dream up above and check back here on Wednesday (March 14th) morning for our full review.
Let us know your thoughts so far down in the comments below!
One of the most interesting looking virtual reality (VR) titles due to launch this month for PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift is Samurai Punk’s satirical experience The American Dream, arriving on 14th March. Today sees a brand new trailer arrive, showcasing plenty of gameplay footage.
As you may expect for a videogame about America’s love of all things guns, The American Dream is about shooting stuff, a lot of stuff, in fact pretty much everything that you can see. The dark satire comes from the use of guns for any kind of task, cooking burgers use a well placed shot to flip them, got a cold, canned beverage that you can’t get into shoot it open. There also seems to be a mixed array of shooting galleries to test your skills at, whether that’s using a pistol, shotgun or semi-automatic weapons.
Players travel through a vast complex constructed by a group of respected gun manufacturers aiming to show the world the virtues of guns for the common man. With 20 stages to play through, each one is based on a key moment in the average American life.
Featuring the voice talents of Michael Dobson (Dragon Ball Z, Sausage Party, Transformers) as Buddy Washington, The American Dream will be priced at $19.99 USD when it hits Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR on 14th March, 2018. For further updates on The American Dream and other upcoming VR titles keep reading VRFocus.
With the subject of gun control very much in the headlines, developer Samurai Punk are offering up its take on the issue with the dark, brutal satire on US gun culture with virtual reality (VR) title The American Dream.
The American Dream uses a classic model of satire where an idea is taken to a wildly illogical and ludicrous extreme. In this particular case, average, everyday tasks of typical American life must be accomplished using only the power of guns.
Featuring the vocal talents of respected voice actors Michael Dobson and Buddy Washington, players will need to puzzle out how exactly to accomplish such tasks as flipping burgers on a barbecue grill or changing a baby’s diaper using only a gun.
Users will have a range of guns available to choose from, from pistols to tactical sporting rifles, each offering unique properties that can help with solving the problem at hand, and thus ‘proving’ how guns can accomplish anything. Sporting an art style inspired by the advertisements and TV shows of the 1950s, in order to provide a sharper contrast between the biting satire and the cheerful facade of 50s Americana, The American Dream aims to deconstruct the business and culture surrounding weaponry in the USA.
The title will feature 20 stages, each featuring a typical moment or task of American life, along with a variety of guns that are the only tools you have available to solve the puzzle at hand. The developers at Samurai Punk are promising an experience that is simultaneously clever, heart-warming, action-packed and thought-provoking,
The American Dream will be heading to Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR on 14th March, 2018, where it will be priced at $19.99 (USD). Further news on The American Dream and other upcoming VR titles will be here on VRFocus.
Nothing is more American than the 4th of July, the United States’ Independence Day. Some people celebrate by displaying flags as a symbol of patriotism while others bust out the grill for some all-American burgers and hot dogs. But according to the team behind The American Dream, an upcoming VR game that takes a satirical look at gun culture in America, no Independence Day is complete without some bullets and beer.
Ever since we first got our hands on The American Dream at PAX West we’ve been eagerly awaiting the game’s full release. According to today’s trailer announcement it won’t be released until later this summer, but the new 4th of July-themed trailer, embedded below, gives us a great taste of what’s to come.
How do you flip a burger with a gun? Shoot at it, obviously. Indie developer Samurai Punk are aiming to make a few satirical points with the announcement of its upcoming virtual reality (VR) title The American Dream VR.
The American Dream VR uses satire and videogames to take a look at American gun culture. The title uses a backdrop of the idealised world of 19050s US sitcoms and introduces a world where all manner of tasks are accompanies using only guns. Eating a meal, driving a car, doing a factor job are all done using guns.
Built completely for VR, players venture through a twisted world created by major gun companies to show how wonderful guns are. Trimming hedges involves shooting off stray branches, opening a beet bottle means shooting off the top.
With Independence Day coming up soon, Samurai Punk have released a special 4th of July trailer that shows the basics of what The American Dream VR is all about to celebrate the upcoming firework-fuelled American holiday.
Samurai Punk are an Australian-based developer who have previously worked on titles such as Fruits of a Feather, Screencheat and Hazumino. The American Dream VR will be the studio’s first venture into VR.
A release date has yet to be confirmed, but the developers say that the title will be launching on ‘All major VR platforms’ some time in late Summer, 2017. The 4th of July trailer is available to view below. Further information can be found on the Samurai Punk website.
VRFocus will bring you further news on The American Dream VR as it becomes available.
