Capitalites remains a distinctly Asian view into the abyss. The obvious changes from the prior Leng Lui edition are the addition of new playbooks (in particular, playbooks specific to male characters) and the revamped scene-setting tools (which include robust safety tools), but the 1.6 iteration also features significant streamlining of how playbooks work.

Gone are the playbook-specific moves reminiscent of Belonging Outside Belonging games (with the particularly spicy twist of being able to give or take tokens from other players), replaced with picklists detailing a playbook’s highs and lows. The “At My Best...” and “At My Worst...” picklists retain the thematic weight of the playbook-specific moves they replace, but curiously, the 1.6 edition of Capitalites has no explicit core resolution, obscuring the mechanical functions of the picklists in each playbook. 

Those playbooks manage the impressive feat of being distinctly Asian while remaining relatable to non-Asian readers. Each and every playbook has a picklist detailing characters’ relationship to their parents, and the Leftover’s occupation list reads like career options dorky Asian kids would be pushed to (or crash into), but at the same time, you don’t need to be Asian to know (or know to avoid) a Sensitive Man or a Hustler.

However, the most impressive (and most baffling) feat Capitalites pulls is how dark its material gets, despite the colorful (almost vaporwave-looking) art style.  The game provides an explicit disclaimer about how it stares directly oppression and toxic behavior, but this is the rare game where the playbooks give room for players to create genuine predators without deviating from picklists. When compared to the soft palette and genuinely charming character art, the darkness of some of the playbooks is an expert (and incredibly gutsy) bait-and-switch.

The only problem I can see is that the discounted price isn’t 16.66 USD like the Leng Lui edition was.