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A screenshot from the real-life city of Englewood, Chicago as seen in "We Are Chicago" (via http://www.wearechicagogame.com/blog/)

Some games have long been known to tackle social issues and depict the current state the world is in. Games have been able to depict the horrors of war through titles such as “Call of Duty” and “This War of Mine.” Now a developer seems to take a bigger step towards depicting social issues in video games with a title that is set to explore the violent streets of a modern day city.

A demo revealed at PAX Prime yesterday showed a game that plays similarly to the ones produced by Telltale Games. “We Are Chicago” gives players a chance to live life in a world of low income but with high crime rates, as reported by Polygon. The premise is indeed dark and gritty, especially for a game whose setting is in a real world city, but the game looks promising.

The story revolves around main character Aaron, as he, along with his family and friends, try to live a normal life while struggling to cope with violence and poverty. Throughout the story, the characters will become witness to the pain brought about by crime and a bad economy.

One of the proponents of the game, Michael Block, said in an interview that the game will make use of sad events to progress the story. Block said that the game uses "juxtaposition of mundane events and violence" to create a complex story for each character in the game.

The game is developed not just through mere thoughts and ideas by writers. The developer reportedly took time to interview residents from Englewood, a neighborhood in Chicago. Through these interviews, the developer created the story and characters that would set the game in motion. The interviews also assured that the story of “We Are Chicago” is as real as it gets.

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