How can games question misunderstandings about the Aztecs?

It’s 500 years since the fall of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1521. The Christians systematically destroyed almost all of the written records of the Aztecs, so their unfiltered vision has been lost. More than 20 years later, priests like Sahagún recognized the mistake of his colleagues and started documenting the Aztec way of life in his book the Florentine Codex. He led the interviewing of survivors from Tlatelolco, but always with the bias of religion. This kind of Christian sources became the authority on the subject. Taking it as fact, it led to myths like the bloodthirsty Aztecs, the genius of singular men like Cortés, among others. But fortunately, in recent decades a new generation of professionals have separated facts from biases in the sources, collaborating between history, archeology, ethnography, and more fields. This can be especially appreciated in Professor Restall’s classic book Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, one of our title’s major references.

‘Surrounded by Totonac Warriors’

I always say to my family, it’s a blessing being born Mexican; “nacemos proscritos” (we are born outlaws). Our current government of López Obrador has defunded historians, museums, science, and entrepreneurship, crippling them, far before covid19. This makes things simple, we only have one way forward: telling to the world the story of our ancestors proudly even without local support, communicating the findings of hard working professionals, to an audience excited about a mysterious civilization who once lived in the Valley of Mexico. The response has overwhelmed us with our players trying to solve codices still open to interpretation*; streamers covering our game for hundreds of live viewers and crying with our prototype’s story*; being invited to Comic Con*, the biggest entertainment event; as well as topping the charts in horror at itch.io*, the main store for independent games. In future entries we’d be happy to share how marvelous it is to collaborate with historians, and how game mechanics can help players to experience both findings and mysteries. If you’d like to receive free prototypes, art, and more, you can join our Explorer Letters newsletter.
*(Editor’s note: follow links below...)

Benjixe, streamer from Norway, solving a codex puzzle live