My Child Lebensborn

In My Child Lebensborn, the player plays as an adoptive parent of a lebensborn child in Norway after World War II.[3] The player must make choices based on off-screen events (e.g. responding to child being bullied at school) and help to take care of them at home (e.g. making food for them).[3] Each day, there are two units of time that the player can use to help to make sure the child's "need" meters do not empty.[4] At the end of each chapter of the game, the player sees how their decisions fall on an emotional spectrum and how it has affected the player's child.[4]

While Elin Festøy was developing a documentary about the children of lebensborn, she decided instead to focus on a project that would elicit empathy for the children amongst a broader audience.[3] She met developer Catharina Bøhler, a developer who was already creating a child nurturing game, and they created what Festøy called "a documentary game".[3] Festøy was concerned that a documentary film would just be a movie about old people talking about war, and felt that a video game would work better to show the story of what the children had to go through.[5] "We want to make people know what it felt like for those kids," Festøy said.[3] "We want to highlight how war isn't over until the hatred ends. Our game will be a simulator letting you experience first hand what it is like to grow up in a hateful society, focused on the situation of the child instead of the greater conflict."[3] The game was among the first wave of video game titles that were permitted to display the swastika in Germany.[6] The game was funded partially by a Norwegian government arts grant, and partially through a successful Kickstarter campaign.[3]

Reviewers commented that the game was not fun because of its dark story, but felt the game taught important lessons for players and was still an experience worth playing.[4][6][7][8] Polygon's Colin Campbell described Lebensborn as a "sort of bullying-management simulation" and praised the game for being an uncomfortable experience.[7] Der Spiegel's Matthias Kreienbrink called the game "not fun" but noted that it was a "partly depressing, partly enlightening" experience.[6] The Guardian's Simon Parkin felt that the game was "fierce and unflinching", and that although the game succeeded as a portrait of time in history, it was a "a difficult ride – oppressive, psychologically strenuous and repetitive."[4] Pocket Gamer's Emily Sowden felt that it was an educational experience that was worth it for the "price of a cup of coffee".[8]

The game won a 2018 BAFTA Games Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the 15th British Academy Games Awards on April 4, 2019, as a "Game beyond entertainment".[9]

The Google Play store later blocked access to the game in Germany, Austria, Russia, and France because of the sensitive nature of its content, with a Google spokesperson saying "This game does not violate our sensitive content policies in most countries, but it does so in a few markets."[10] Festøy said "We're working to get more information from Google and have only been told we’ve been removed due to controversial content."[10]

• My Child Lebensborn official website