Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers becomes a video game

Well, it’s not often that in this job I get the chance to tap into my limited, cursory understanding of pop music. Despite the fact that I have a literal music-professor-stroke-music-theory-author for a dad, and grew up surrounded by mountains of vinyl and CDs that constituted his (still growing) physical media collection, there are several blind spots in my general knowledge. However, I do know of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; and, in doing so, have probably dated myself badly, being as they are from the early 80s. At least they’re still putting out albums! One of the best-selling groups of all time! I’m not that out of touch. *sob*

But it’s okay, because I’m apparently not the only dude whose main hobby is gaming and who also appreciates the RHCPs (did they ever go by that? They should have done). Indie developer Miquel Camps Orteza, a fan of the band’s trippy 1999 single Californication and its equally off-the-wall music video, has created a video game adaptation of it. Not a sentence I thought I’d type anytime this century, but here we are.

Polygon has the scoop on this one. The game may not be as insane a venture as you’d think, since there is grounding in the song’s music video aesthetically for it: it’s “full of janky, 3D rendered animated scenes that resemble an old PlayStation game.” As for what it actually depicts? I’ll let the expert describe. “The music video is a delirious fever dream, with a shirtless character facing bears and chainsaw-wielding maniacs, running through forests and taking a mining car through a mine, and grinding a snowboard on the piping of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.” Not unlike an average day in the life of Crash Bandicoot, then. I see the comparison.

Red Hot Chili Devver

According to Orteza, “the game started as a two-day challenge and snowballed into a full game, with seven levels that all have their own setting and game mechanics.” For those for whom their love of indie games and their love of the Red Hot Chili Peppers passionately French at the centre of two Venn diagrams, this will no doubt be a must-download. Grab it, free of a charge, on Itch.io now.

It may seem like Sacramentan sacrilege, but evidently there’s an ongoing love for Californication. How about you? Did you like the song? Will you be playing this bonkers game? Let us know!

Via, Polygon.