In case you missed it, Saudi Arabia is planning to build a new city within their borders. Concept art and videos have already been released of this new proposed settlement. It will be built in a straight line, with several different floors. The planned city will be 500 meters high, by 200 meters wide and 170 kilometers long. The flashy animation hides a dark truth; it’ll be an insufferable nightmare for the people who actually have to live there.
Wanna know how I know this? Simple really; this idea is eerily similar to a dystopic psychological horror game that debuted over 20 years ago called Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (referred to from this point on as BoF5). For research purposes, I sat down and relapsed into a hobby I don’t even like anymore to play an objectively shitty game. You know, the things I do for sharpened pitchforks…
For the uninitiated, BoF5 takes place in a sci-fi, steampunk underground dystopia. Humanity has been forced underground in a civilization-sized bunker. Generations have passed, and most of the population has only ever heard of the sky through verbal stories; nobody has actually seen it for themselves. Pay attention, that’ll come up later.
Part of the fun of these games is exploring the world and interacting with the non-playable-characters (NPC’s). After gaining control of Ryu (the game’s protagonist) from the opening cutscene, I roamed around and sampled the game’s flavor text. The NPC’s in the beginning of the game have some dialogue that is quite telling.
One elderly NPC complains about how poor the quality of the air is at the bottom of the bunker, as evidenced by his rampant coughing fits. Ryu eventually runs into Nina, who is dying of a respiratory illness that can only be treated if she reaches the fresh air of the surface. Yes, you read that correctly; the literal story of the game revolves around going from the bottom of the bunker to the top in the name of air quality. Pay attention, that’ll come up later.
Other NPC’s in the beginning town also gripe about how critical utilities rarely work. Most notably, the various elevators and trains seldom run as intended, leaving the population functionally immobilized. Electricity and lighting seem to be an issue; many parts of the game take place in low-lighting situations where the poor visibility affects gameplay. Pay attention, that’ll come up later.
Now let’s discuss the real-life Saudi city plan. Saudi Arabia’s new city will be 34 square kilometers and will need to fit a proposed 9 million people. Assuming no growth in Saudi Arabia’s population (hint: unlikely since they are at above replacement level birth rate ) then this would give the city a population density of roughly 260,000 people per square kilometer, thus making it nearly six times more population dense as the world’s currently most cramped city, Manilla. Hell apparently has a new zip code…
The entire city is planning to be encapsulated with silver mirrors. I’m no physicist, but I know that mirrors reflect light instead of letting it through. Furthermore, each image of the linear city shows that the top floor will be covered in greenery. To accomplish this, these trees will need to have some sort of base to be planted on (setting aside what tree roots and trapped water do to concrete). Living below trees and surrounded by outward facing mirrors means that nobody inside this sleek casket will ever see natural light again.
Furthermore, since trees absorb carbon and release oxygen via their leaves, this means that planting trees on the surface will have absolutely zero ventilation benefit to those living beneath the trees. Air quality is going to become a major concern. BoF5’s government really didn’t like when Ryu and Nina wanted to journey to the surface, and something tells me that the Saudi’s won’t like it either…
As for critical utilities, electricity is also another issue that’s going to need to be solved. The Saudi’s plan on having this city run entirely off of green technology. However, unless the Saudi’s plan on using the n-word (which many Western nations might have something to say about), then this might not even be possible. Remember; the walls are sleek mirrors and the tree canopy blocks out the sun, so there’s no room for solar panels. I guess Ryu won’t be the only one navigating poorly lit hallways and alleys…
And here’s an obvious parallel to get out of the way; Bof5’s core mechanic is the Dragon Ratio. Put simply, it measures how closely related to dragons the player is. If you are genetically close to dragons, then all sorts of privileges open up to you. Doors that are literally locked to filthy commoners will open for you, and you’ll get to see more revealing content about the murky underbelly of the political machine governing this hellish society. Now swap the word “dragons” for “royalty” and I’ve basically described what life in this city is going to be like.
In the game, Bosch is a ranger and an early comrade of Ryu. He is 1/64th Dragon, and Ryu (on the first playthrough) is 1/8192. Bosch lets this go to his head as he spends his time sneering at Ryu, often belittling him for his weak genetic connection. This comes in the form of comments such as “work that even a Low-D{ragon) can do.” POP QUIZ: what word are we going to swap out with “dragon”?
Bosch and Ryu get split up, only to meet again several hours later in the game. This time, Bosch has been tasked with destroying the cargo that him and Ryu were once assigned to protect. Ryu defeats Bosch. Bosch is livid that someone of such poor genetic lineage could’ve defeated him. Bosch’s boss informs him that a 1/8192 defeating a 1/64th in combat is “within the margin of error”, heavily implying that being a 1/64 is not all that impressive. This is telling because it shows that only those of immediate genetic lineage to dragons matter at all. POP QUIZ: what word are we going to swap out with “dragons”?
After venturing for roughly an hour or two outside of the first town, Ryu finds himself in Junk Town, a small encampment inhabited by residents of low relation to dragons. They live in absolute filth and abhorrent poverty. Since they live on the bottom and have no close genetic connection to dragons, they are doomed to a life of poverty and near-starvation; no such issues with the government research laboratory though! POP quiz: what word are we going to swap out with “dragons”?
I think I’ve made it clear that it’s going to be the mere commoners who’ll have to live in the bottom of the glorified coffin and die of emphysema at 45. Meanwhile, the top brass and the immediate royal family will be living it up at the top of The Line; a literal manifestation of their society. It’s honestly as if Mohammed bin Salman felt inspired by Capcom’s shittiest game.
Yep, this one’s definitely going to make me a real writer…
Home Page 