(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A Brazilian video-game developer released a self-described “satirical” video game featuring rainbow-masked characters battering “fictional” disease deniers, Nintendo Life reported.
Pulling No Punches, an action/adventure and fighting game, was developed by an individual going by the name “BrainDead Broccoli” and published by QUByte Interactive, according to an online overview.
“The game follows the fictional story of a global pandemic that engulfed the world and is being ignored by fanatics who do not believe that the disease is real,” says its Steam page. “It is up to the main characters, 4 common citizens adequately protected with gloves and masks, to deal with these fanatics and solve the situation with the force of their own fists.”
The game features four playable characters—three women and one muscle-bound man wearing a wig, hair bows and a skirt dubbed as “Lola.”
The four masked and gloved characters work their way through hordes of stereotyped “fanatics,” depicted as maskless, zombie-like creatures, some of whom are carrying Bibles.
Players can grab masks for extra lives and perform super moves with “essential workers” or “social distancing.”
The game blames its apocalyptic setting on the “abominable and irrationally fanatic percentage of the population that decided to ignore the safety measures against the spread of the virus, risking everybody else’s lives,” according to an introductory prologue.
“Unfortunately, the only way to deal with these selfish pieces of s**t is by … pulling no punches,” it adds.
Pulling No Punches isn't a great beat em up (but a decent one) that's basically revenge porn for those of us who wore masks. Every enemy is a maskless fool, and this is the opening story scroll. pic.twitter.com/mO8kYGRDnS
— Matt Paprocki (@Matt_Paprocki) May 25, 2023
The gameplay is brutal, complete with graphic depictions of violence, blood and pestilence.
🇧🇷 Punhos de Repúdio chega amanhã no #NintendoSwitch!
A Laura já ta prontíssima pra arrebentar tudo! 👊
🇬🇧 Pulling No Punches arrives tomorrow on #NintendoSwitch!
Laura is ready to rock everything! 👊@punhosderepudio pic.twitter.com/M9WOKvTi5B
— QUByte Interactive (@qubytegames) May 24, 2023
Twitter users pointed out that masked bystanders were often open activists.
pulling no punches, and basically pic.twitter.com/Zem4lSTd4s
— JamesBoone (@JAMESB0ONE) May 28, 2023
According to reviews, the game is a COVID militant’s fantasy of violently thrashing so-called “science deniers,” despite all of the recent news that masking, vaccinations and social distancing were not helpful.
Watchdog group Retraction Watch recently released a report showing at least 330 medical research papers published throughout the pandemic faced retraction due to ethical or scientific shortcomings.
Many of the papers questioned the government-approved narrative, poking holes in the efficacy of masking, social distancing, vaccinations and alternative COVID treatments such as ivermectin as hydroxychloroquine.
