As predicted by his Branch Davidian followers, Vernon Howell (aka David Koresh) has returned to Mt. Carmel for the final battle. Revisiting the 1993 Waco, Texas, episode, gamers enter the mind and form of a resurrected David Koresh through custom headgear, a voice-activated, hard-plastic 3D skin. Each player enters the network as a Koresh and must defend the Branch Davidian compound against internal intrigue, sceptical civilians, rival Koresh and the inexorable advance of government agents. Ensnared in the custom “Koresh skin”, players are bombarded with a soundstream of government “psy-ops”, FBI negotiators, the voice of God and the persistent clamor of battle. Players voice messianic texts drawn from the book of revelation, wield a variety of weapons from the Mount Carmel cache and influence the behavior of both followers and opponents by radiating a charismatic aura.

Waco Resurrection re-examines the clash of world views inherent in the 1993 conflict by asking players to assume the role of a resurrected “cult” leader in order to do divine battle against a crusading government. While the voices of far-off decision-makers seem resolute and determined, the “grunts” who physically assault the compound appear conflicted and naive in their roles. The game commemorates the tenth anniversary of the siege at a unique cultural moment in which holy war has become embedded in official government policy. In 2003, the spirit of Koresh has become a paradoxical embodiment of the current political landscape—he is both the besieged religious other and the logical extension of the neo-conservative millennial vision. Waco is a primal scene of American fear: the apocalyptic visionary—anAmerican tradition stretching back to Jonathan Edwards—confronts the heathen “other”—in Waco Resurrection, the roles are anything but fixed.