Unsavory is a mobile game designed to put the player in the precarious position of choosing between their personal health, public health and their financial well-being. Like other activist games, the intention is to create awareness and empathy around an issue that is best understood as part of a larger system. Additionally, the game seeks to be a catalyst for change by embedding a social media campaign into gameplay that encourages players to share meaningful facts and statistics regarding restaurant workers, access to health care, and paid sick day legislation.
The original version of Unsavory was released on Google Play and the App Store in 2013. This version centered around the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 and attempted to simulate what that outbreak might have looked like from a fast food employee at that time.
In 2020, as the Covid-19 outbreak consumed our lives, I decided to release a new version of Unsavory that would take a look at the life of that same employee during a global pandemic with waves of unfiltered information. The original one month turns into a fractured year. The player now receives letters from the CDC, mainstream media, the president of the United States, and their ficticious employers. With the exception of the employer, all these letters are sourced from original content. My hope is that this version serves as an exploration and documentation of a great time of uncertainty that can provide a point of reflection.