Language is a slippery thing, and our subjectivity and lived experience can shape the definition of a word. Take the word “settler.” In the U.S., the word is historically associated with the European occupation of the Americas, and it brings to mind a certain narrative: the sprawling, unfriendly frontier, the aggressive act of bending the land to one’s will, and the assumption of wide-open areas, ready to be tamed. That final element of
emptiness is key to the romanticization of staking a claim, and the strongest component of the indie sci-fi Western
Settlers is how it understands that corruption and colonialism go hand in hand.