Indie developer Robert Yang, creator of games like Hard Lads and Rinse & Repeat, has a new release out today called Logjam. Itâs about a lumberjack who is just trying to make it through a very hot, sweaty day.
You can download and play it here, but if youâd like to see a trailer first, here you go:
Please note that while that trailer manages to keep things SFW, the full game does not, so bear that in mind if youâre going to be playing. Yangâs official description pretty much sums it up:
Logjam is the latest in my gay sexuality series â a short small game about a middle aged lumberjack daddy processing wood and other hard things. Itâs about forestry, masculinity, and history, but on a surface level itâs a simple work simulator with a burly stripper and occasional twists.
The game, however, is about more than wood. And more than sex. As Yang elaborates on his blog, woodâhow and where we cut it, then what we do with itâis something to which we âapply a heavy varnish made of ideas and politics.â Timber is not just a building material and source of fuel, but also a major player in the story of American settler colonialism, from George Washingtonâs cherry tree to Abraham Lincolnâs log cabin.
I need to reflect the ideological dimension of wood. So this is why I occasionally task the player with splitting something that isnât just a log.
Sometimes itâs a sandwich or a pie, American food items that are frequently split and sectioned. Sometimes itâs an adorable puppy or an innocent deer, things that feel transgressive and funny to chop. Sometimes itâs an axe, chopping the means of chopping for a cute meta twist.
While chopping these objects in a forest is strange, I think itâs important that this selection of food, animals, and tools are all vaguely related to the American frontier theme and arenât completely random. Thatâs what foreshadows the overtly political objects like a bald eagle.
But, yes, the game is also about a lumberjack and sex. If you want to try it out you can play Logjam here.
