Genital Jousting is a party video game developed by Free Lives and published by Devolver Digital for Windows and macOS in 2018.
| Genital Jousting | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Free Lives |
| Publisher(s) | Devolver Digital |
| Producer(s) | Shaz Greenwood |
| Designer(s) | Evan Greenwood Richard Pieterse Robbie Fraser |
| Artist(s) | Stuart Coutts Marcelle Marais |
| Writer(s) | Jon Keevy |
| Composer(s) | Jason Sutherland Martin Kvale |
| Engine | Unity[3] |
| Platform(s) | Windows, macOS |
| Release | January 18, 2018 (Win)[1] May 18, 2018 (Mac)[2] |
| Genre(s) | Party |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Gameplay
editIn this multiplayer party game, players attempt to move flaccid, disembodied penises into disembodied anuses. The game supports up to eight players locally or online.[4] In addition to the Traditional Mode, there are Party Mode that features Mario Party-style minigames, and Date Mode that features two-player co-op gameplay.[4] In the story mode the player is John, a working man that is looking for a date for his high school reunion.[4]
Development
editOn November 17, 2016, Genital Jousting was made available through the Steam Early Access program.[5] Though Genital Jousting has been described as "extraordinarily juvenile", it was designed in part to deliver a sex-positive message to an audience that might not come to hear it otherwise. The studio stated in its developer blog that heterosexual men are socialized not to discuss how they feel about anal sex or penises touching each other, and wrote: "we were highly motivated by the fact that Genital Jousting gave us a vehicle to have those discussions amongst ourselves."[6] Greenwood told The Sunday Times that "at heart, the game is a play on masculinity, an attempt to disrupt entrenched notions of male power and authority." The game would not be allowed on major console platforms such as Xbox or PlayStation.[7] When Genital Jousting was banned from livestreaming service Twitch, Nigel Lowrie of Devolver Digital contacted Steam to see if the game could be livestreamed through the platform's internal broadcasting system. Genital Jousting became the first game to be broadcast through Steam's live streaming feature.[8]
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 68/100[9] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 7.5/10[5] |
| GameStar | 66/100[10] |
| Hardcore Gamer | 3/5[11] |
| IGN | 6/10[12] |
| MeriStation | 6.5/10[13] |
| CGMagazine | 9.5/10[4] |
| Gamer.nl | 7/10[14] |
| Multiplayer.it | 5.5/10[15] |
Genital Jousting received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[9]
The multiplayer was regarded as the core of the game and fun until the joke starts to wear thin.[13][15][11] The story mode was deemed surprisingly emotional but too short.[12][10]
CGMagazine described the way the aftermath of a sexual assault in the story was handled "problematic".[4] Hardcore Gamer said the gameplay in story mode is so different to multiplayer that "there's a rather huge disconnect between both halves of the game and it just leaves things feeling awkward."[11]
References
edit- ^ "GENITAL JOUSTING - FULL RELEASE! - 18 JAN". Steam. Valve Corporation. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ "Genital Jousting Post Launch Patch". Steam. Valve Corporation. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ "Press Kit". Free Lives. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Whitaker, Jed (18 January 2018). "Genital Jousting Review". CGMagazine. CGMagazine Publishing Group. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ a b Glagowski, Peter (18 January 2018). "Review: Genital Jousting". Destructoid. Gamurs. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ Wales, Matt (18 January 2018). "Penis-based party game Genital Jousting leaves Early Access, gains a story mode". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 10 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^ Jordan, Bobby (23 September 2017). "Game of penises: South Africa's latest online gaming sensation". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^ Conditt, Jessica (2 February 2018). "A game about penises made Steam live streaming a reality". Engadget. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^ a b "Genital Jousting for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ a b Fränkel, Harald (5 March 2018). "Genital Jousting im Test - Schwanz im Glück". GameStar (in German). Webedia. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ a b c LeClair, Kyle (18 January 2018). "Review: Genital Jousting". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ a b Maeso, Gustavo (25 January 2018). "Genital Jousting - Análisis". IGN España (in Spanish). Ziff Davis. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ a b García, Fran (29 January 2018). "Genital Jousting, Análisis". MeriStation (in Spanish). Prisa. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ Vogelaar, Erwin (27 January 2018). "Review - Genital Jousting". Gamer.nl (in Dutch). Reshift. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ a b Tagliaferri, Simone (30 January 2018). "La recensione di Genital Jousting". Multiplayer.it (in Italian). Retrieved 30 March 2023.