Time Machine Bronzeville Reviews

I'm writing this review for people on the fence. Seeing no reviews for this software made me hesitant. Now, it just makes me sad. Time Machine Bronzeville is incredible. If anything here speaks to you, then check it out. I feel that TMB is an example of an untapped mode within the videogame form. TMB mixes history, folklore, the arts, and reenactment to make an enriching and uplifting experience. While books will always be an irreplaceable way to understand black history, the scale of reenactment here is not to be underestimated. Time Machine Bronzeville uses props and stand-ins to force you to really reckon with how black people actually lived during the time period, it gives the user a guide on how to imagine what Bronzeville must have been like. I find the effect here very interesting. This game eschews the popular mode of photo-realistic videogame graphics. It offers instead something that appears "dated"—a photo-realism of the past. This choice reminds the viewer of the distance of time. Yet the dioramas could still be "real" by their arrangements and commitment to reenactment. Everything is where it is supposed to be, but the final step is interpretive, it's still up to the viewer and user of this software to try to connect this arrangement to what really happened. Time Machine Bronzeville chronicles triumphs, tragedies, bit players, and just people getting by. It's an ideal thick text, as it is a snapshot of the life and times of Bronzeville. The gallery setting gives you time to think about these personal histories at your own pace, so you can make your own connections. It networks these stories in whatever way that jumps out to you and conveys them with a feeling of "here, come and see for yourself." The game is held together by your own curiosity and drive to know how the city looked and how these folks lived. I'm a massive fan of jazz, so I knew Bronzeville as a footnote. Now I understand it as something more. I feel that it is essential to keep the past alive with us and Time Machine Bronzeville offers a great opportunity to do so.