Infusions of native herbs, reminiscences of a war and a corrupt politician fleeing from Justice to a sparsely inhabited and almost mythical area in the heart of South America, are mixed in the first Paraguayan-made video game to reach PlayStation 4 consoles.
“The Origin: Blind Maid”, the video game inspired by the myth of “Bad Vision”, is the product of a company made up of young Paraguayans, Waraní Studios.
“Today we have become the first Paraguayan company, the first Paraguayan studio, that has the opportunity to launch a video game on the Sony PlayStation platform,” Eduardo Benítez, co-founder of Waraní, told Efe.
The firm has been Sony’s only official partner in the country since 2018, but its journey began more than seven years ago.
It was at that time that Benítez contacted his now partner and co-founder of Waraní Studios, Ismael Pozzo, through social networks. ».
This video game has been on PS4 consoles since June 10 and in 2021 it was released for PC.
CORRUPT PROTAGONIST
“The story of the game is based on a corrupt politician who flees from Justice,” Pozzo explained to Efe.
The central character, which the player represents in the first person, is not inspired by someone in particular, explains this young graphic designer, for whom the politician can be in Paraguay or in “any country.”
The escape that the politician undertakes together with his assistant takes him to the past with constructions recreated at the time of the War of the Triple Alliance, which between 1864 and 1870 Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay waged against Paraguay, and to the Chaco region.
“The Chaco always has a mystical touch,” explains Benítez, who remembers the silence that takes over the cities located in that region on windless nights.
The origin, more than an abstract concept, has been conceived as a product of human injustice.
The video game also addresses issues such as mental illness or gender violence, of which Lucía Isabel, the antagonist of the story, is a victim.
She, according to Benítez, demonstrates “the strength, courage and power that women have.”