Thank you, Tecuelhuetzin. But our tlahtoāni is in another yāōcalli.
September 24, 2021 5:29 AM   Subscribe

The old-school, side-scroller game for Android and iOS, "Yaopan. Un Juego de la Conquista" was developed by scholars at UNAM to challenge popular historical narratives. You play as a Tlaxcalan during the conquest and the fall of Tenochtitlan. (Text is in Spanish with Nahuatl words, but the game is playable without reading it.)
posted by eotvos (3 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
I play video games. For decades, I have thought a Mesoamerican setting (pre-European contact) would make for some really great games. But instead, we get an Ancient Greece here, an ancient Rome there, 5000 variations on Tolkien and ten thousand games having to do with "Ragnorak" and helmets with horns.

I'm not into mobile games, but I'm interested to see this exists. More, please.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:08 AM on September 24, 2021 [2 favorites]


I'm sitting at breakfast within sight of where this was developed - thanks for posting this, as I wouldn't otherwise have known about it! I've played through the first level. Interesting that (as the OP notes) it tells the story from the perspective of the Tlaxcala, who were in conflict with the Aztecs before the conquest and are sometimes treated as traitors for their alliance with the conquistadores - I've just reached the level where you make the alliance. Intrigued to see how the story develops, although I'm not a huge platform gamer in general.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 8:57 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


Awesome! I just spent the first few screens translating to my kids. It looks like you can switch between Tecuelhetzin and Calmecahua between missions. Pushed around tetl, lost a yollotl on some spikes, and struck down some Spaniards with a macuahuitl!

I wish I didn't have work today.

Until I started reading about the Tlaxcaltēcah and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, my understanding of the conquest was the "Aztecs welcomed the Spanish as returning gods nonsense." I like this short comic by Shi-Gu that gives a glimpse at the complexities going on with regards to the early Tlaxcallan / Spanish alliance.
posted by Mister Cheese at 9:00 AM on September 24, 2021 [3 favorites]


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