Guck’s Blaktasia was a standout game during the extended MIGW 2024, with multiple unique showings at PAX Aus, Big Games Night Out, and SXSW Sydney. These spotlights were certainly deserved. Not only is Guck a pioneering Aboriginal-led studio doing excellent work advocating for First Nations people in tech and beyond, Blaktasia is also shaping up to be something special.
This mobile game is focussed on celebrating connection to Country, as players work to restore the bush, rescue animals, and push back against the corrupting force of the evil Murk. Native flora is a means to fight back, as players garden to fend off the Murk – and there is a lovely sense of mindfulness in this action, as each seed planted creates a blossoming of colour and life around you.
Blaktasia is a beautiful, vivid game, elevated by its art style and how it serves gameplay. Its world is brought to life in rich, bright shades of pinks, reds, and oranges, with the colours really highlighting the biodiversity of Australia’s native plants. It is a beautiful country, and Blaktasia revels in this beauty, while highlighting the importance of protecting it.
Each seed a player collects is a tool to create a thriving landscape filled with colour and life. At first, the player is isolated in a dark world of purple hues, on a land corrupted by an encroaching force – but with each seed sown, the Murk is forced to retreat further into the shadows.
Read: Guck announces debut game, Blaktasia
While the game focusses on dark themes – the Murk is metaphor for invasion and corruption of land – Blaktasia maintains a bouncy, celebratory tone that makes clear that even when the world seems hopeless, human hands guided by care and knowledge can fight back.
The mini-games in Blaktasia are also very funny, quirky slices of gameplay that create a real sense of humour and hope for its world. The fan-favourite, based on my own experiences and those on the PAX Aus showfloor, tasks players with pulling an anteater’s tongue to collect roaming ants in a maze-like cavern. This mini-game has wonderfully silly physics, and a grand reward when you let go of the anteater’s tongue, and get to watch it all contract along the pathways you’ve taken.
It’s a lovely slice of levity in a game dealing with serious subject matter.
Beyond its sense of fun, and the satisfaction of clearing lands of Murk, what feels most important about Blaktasia is its aim for education on Country and land management. For everyone, but particularly young and curious kids, it could be an essential resource for learning more about Australian lands through a First Nations lens – with a focus on the importance of flora and fauna, and what connection to Country means.
Read: First Nations representation in games must be paired with agency
It’s the sort of game that schools should sit up and notice, as games are more integrated into classrooms. We should be teaching kids about the lands on which they learn. We should be highlighting the importance of our natural environment and its protection, particularly as climate change advances. And most importantly, we need more education about First Nations cultures and practices in our classrooms.
Blaktasia certainly feels like an essential game in that regard. Previews at PAX Aus and SXSW Sydney demonstrated exactly how powerful this game can be, and the potential impact it will have on release.
You can learn more about Blaktasia on social media, and via the game’s website.
