Well, vertical shorts are a thing now, as more and more of my friends are hooked on stories made to be watched on their phones. AWL Media Production brings the format to “life” on Instagram with The Decoding Game: Order of Token, transporting us to a dystopian future where citizens live by social scores and survival reality shows are produced for the entertainment of the powers that be.
In a not-so-distant future, the King of America (who looks an awful lot like Trump) has taken control of the country’s computer systems through the world’s most powerful AI, Chainlord. In his quest for ultimate power, he plans to seize one million “biocomputers,” or, as you may have guessed, citizens. But is this the King’s desire, or has Chainlord taken over?
Getting the “biocomputers” is easy. Every citizen is given a social score based on their loyalty to the King. When their score drops below 100, they have 72 hours to report to the Infinity Castle to play the Decoding Game. Your goal is to split into teams and find the keys, but one member of your group is a “traitor” randomly assigned by Chainlord. The traitor’s goal is to betray the team and survive.
Our protagonist is Hana, a schoolteacher, who has been assigned the role of traitor. She is approached by an unlikely ally: a cat “possessed” by a friend who knows how to beat the game, but for the plan to work, Hana must play her part. Her job is to keep everyone else from collecting the keys by lying, manipulating, and pointing fingers at anybody but herself. When she joins her team, they realize this isn’t a castle but a slaughterhouse.
The Decoding Game is a vertical short currently playing on Instagram, built entirely with AI by a one-person team at AWL Media Production. From the start, it’s clear the filmmaker isn’t a fan of Trump and uses him only as an impetus for his much bigger story.
The King sits at his desk as a masked woman leans in to whisper in The Decoding Game.
“Our protagonist is Hana, a schoolteacher, who has been assigned the role of traitor.”
With episodes running just under two minutes each, I can only speak to the first four I was given. I’ll start by saying AI isn’t quite there yet for creating a fully realized series. The series relies heavily on the AI-generated story, but human intervention is still needed to clean up clunky dialogue and transitions between scenes. The result feels like we’re being jerked around, and the whiplash is intense.
On the positive side, the backgrounds, setting, props, and character design are impressive. One of my main complaints about AI is how character design falls apart as the story progresses. Here, the main character holds together beautifully.
Storywise, we have a Squid Game–like plot with win-or-die consequences. By episode four, the game has started, but the players’ strategies have not. The most interesting part is the story’s protagonist, Hana. She is highly sympathetic, and we feel her turmoil knowing she will, at some point, have to betray her teammates. But can AI deliver a truly emotional performance? That remains to be seen.
As a vertical drama, The Decoding Game checks all the right boxes. It works fine for quick entertainment, but falls short of being a serious challenger to the movies and TV shows we’ve grown to love over the last century.
For more information, visit the The Decoding Game official Instagram page.
"…one million ‘biocomputers,’ or, as you may have guessed, citizens."
