GoKawiilis a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.
This week, a trio of video game cabinets emblazoned with pixel art of Donald Trump and a number of other government officials’ faces suddenly appeared at the DC War Memorial. Looking at the cabinets from a distance, it’s easy to get the sense that Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell (which you can also play on the web) is just another monumental joke erected by DC-based art collective, The Secret Handshake. But when I got up close and actually spent some time playing the new game, it became obvious that Operation Epic Furious is a scathing commentary that also happens to be a loving tribute to classic RPGs.
In Operation Epic Furious, you control president Trump as he wages war with Iran and attempts to reestablish the US’s access to the Strait of Hormuz. The game opens in the White House where you have to guide Trump through a collection of rooms filled with some of his most notable allies like secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, FBI director Kash Patel, and health and human services secretary RFK Jr. In its opening moments, Operation Epic Furious feels a lot like Nintendo’s early Zelda games where you were meant to explore the map looking for treasure and directions about what to do next. But instead of rupees of small keys to unlock doors, Operation Epic Furious tasks you with finding Kid Rock’s helicopter so that you can fly off and “ROCK Iran back to the stone ages.”
Artistically, there’s an earnestness to Operation Epic Furious that speaks to the fact that The Secret Handshake built this to feel like a genuine game rather than just a glorified joke about the Trump administration. The game has a surprisingly excellent soundtrack that seamlessly shifted from one piece to another as I wandered its pixelated Iran, stumbling upon enemies like schoolchildren and “weak on crime” Pope Leo XIV. It’s filled with NPCs whose dialog speaks to the administration’s real-world chaos. Even the battle system is robust enough to feel inspired by the Final Fantasy and Pokémon franchises.
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