Text-based iPhone adventure game Blackbar parodies NSA's censorship

If you’ve read any of the US NSA’s released documents, you might be familiar with the black bars that often block out words and phrases throughout the documents. Developer Neven Mrgan has made a game that pokes fun at the US government’s penchant for censoring documents like this. Dubbed Blackbar, the game is a text-based adventure for iOS devices. It is available on the App Store for Rs 170.

In the game, players take on the role of Vi, as she attempts to write to her sister Kenty, who works at the “Department of Communications”. The game mostly revolves around trying to decipher Kenty’s letters, since a lot, if not most, of the vital information in her letters have been censored.

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Down with censorship!

According to the offical description of the game, it tells a sci-fi story of a dystopian future. The game is very simple to understand. Words that have been blacked out can be tapped and filled in with whatever word you can think. If it is the right word, the black bar goes away and is replaced by the word.

The game is only available on iOS devices, sadly, and the developers have stated that this is because they have more experience with the platform. They have gone on to say that they might consider a web, and even an Android version if the game finds enough success on iOS.

Blackbar is compatible with every device from iPhone 3GS, 3rd generation iPod Touch and iPad. This means that it should be essentially compatible with any device running iOS 6.1 or later.