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"Are you a feminist?"Two young women alone in a sports car: there's probably a political dimension to this. Certainly in Italy in the 1970s there is, anyway, where everything has a political dimension. "Terrorism, kidnappings, political turmoil" reads the marketing blurb. So be it. A hitchhiker the women pick up wears a Juventus scarf, and that kicks off a discussion that skirts around the issue of workers' rights and of who owns who - at least I think it does; it never quite lands on its presumed target. Minutes later, an aggressive city type who challenges the women to a race as far as Siena lights the fuse on a proxy war between commies and fascists, a proxy war that is always ready to explode here.
This is Wheels of Aurelia, the latest treat from Santa Ragione, a tiny indie developer that is fast becoming one of my favourite game-makers. Their last game, Mirrormoon EP, turned out to be everything I think I want from No Man's Sky, and more - so much more - besides, while previous games include a puzzler, of sorts, about hunting through bookcases. Everywhere Santa Ragione seems to turn, you get something unexpected and tart. This time it's a conversation game that is also a driving game and occasionally a racing game - and also, inevitably, a game about politics, personal and otherwise, the true dimensions of which I am far too stupid to grasp.
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