This prototype began as a way to explore how class intersected with the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how many employees in the health sector are deemed “essential workers,” despite continuing to live in precarity. What does it mean to fear for your health and safety when going to work, especially when without it, you can’t earn a living?
You play as Beattie, a care assistant working during the pandemic. As an agency-based contracted worker Beattie works at two facilities – Innis House (a long term care institution) and Meadowvale (a retirement home). The game takes place during the first stage of the pandemic, in early to mid 2020.
It Comes in Waves is one outcome of an ongoing SSHRC-funded research project focused on socioeconomic class and games. For more information about the project, visit www.classandgames.com.
Release Date: January 24, 2022