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Joy Division Inspire World’s Most Depressing Video Game

joy division, love will tear us apart, will love tear us apart

Here’s something no one knew they needed: A video game based on Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Thanks to European developer Mighty Box Games, that need has been satiated. Will Love Tear Us Apart? is a “free-to-play browser-game about relationships on the brink of breaking up,” according to the game’s official website.  

Each verse of Joy Division’s signature song represents a different level, and the game as a whole is supposed to encourage players to “reflect on the darker side of love: miscommunication, emotional impasse and the sadness of separation… What guides this game is an ambition to frustrate, upset, and sting the player into remembering the dark days preceding the death of a relationship.” Fun! 

From the look of the above trailer, Will Love Tear Us Apart? draws on the post-punk icons’ gloomy color palette and imagery. The black-and-white teaser opens on a lonely beating heart that slowly decays with each pump. So, yeah, Mighty Box pretty much nailed Joy Division’s mood. Gordon Calleja — the project’s creator, designer, and writer — got the idea to adapt a song into a video game back in the summer of 2011. He eventually decided to turn the titular track into an interactive experience and marry it to visuals inspired by the woodcuts of Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. 

Those brave enough to venture into the abyss can play Will Love Tear Us Apart? here