Protest art meets retro gaming in the latest work from Secret Handshake. The anonymous art collective has turned to video game design as the most logical medium to comment on the chaos of the Trump administration’s Iran War, and you can play online.
The group has previously made a splash with its satirical sculptures, including of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, in the National Mall in Washington. The latest installation is a trio of retro arcade machines loaded with Operation Epic Furious: Strait To Hell.
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You play Operation Furious as the US president and must fight school girls along with other “threats to American freedom” like DEI and the Pope in order to loot ‘lube’ from Iran.
The game features pixel art images of Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and FBI director Kash Patel, along with quotes from speeches and social media posts. It begins at the White House, where players can choose whether to order a Diet Coke or invade Iran. Choose the latter, and Hegseth promptly declares his delts ready to liberate some oil. You can then take a helicopter to Iran and navigate destroyed infrastructure to seek out barrels of lube.
There are plenty of Easter eggs along the way – try ordering six Diet Cokes, but don’t try to hold Melania’s hand.
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Secret Handshake said the decision to make a video game for their latest project was inspired by the administration’s own propaganda, which has included mixes of war footage, AI-generated images and videos and content from actual video games like Call of Duty to create “hype videos”.
“The Trump administration knows that the best way to sell combat is by making it a video game, that’s why they’ve been pumping out the ‘sickest’ Iran War video game hype reels,” reads a plaque beside the arcade machines at the DC War Memorial.
“But why stop at clips when you could go full throttle? Introducing Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, a high-octane, flag-waving, boots-on-the-ground simulator where freedom isn’t debated, it’s deployed. No briefings, no hesitation; just pure pixelated patriotism. Strap in and play hard, because this game may never end.”
You can also play Operation Epic Furious: Strait To Hell online at epicfurious.com