By Kerrigan Dunham & Cate Phillips
In 2017, a team of three indie developers known as Team Cherry developed a game involving a subterranean fallen kingdom of bugs, chock-full of lore that you must explore as an unknown traveling knight who stumbles upon this world of wonder. This game is Hollow Knight, and it is known as a Metroidvania: a genre of game involving free-roam exploration across numerous areas, with lots of backtracking as you unlock powers and abilities that allow you to access new paths and locations. While exploring the world, you discover the various and diverse regions that make up the kingdom of Hallownest, and learn more about its vast and complex past. This game showcases environmental storytelling through its detailed graphics, the atmospheric-enhancing musical score, and the extremely detailed lore of the world that glues it all together.
You can learn so much about an environment simply by living in it. Hollow Knight excels in this by utilizing the foreground, middle-ground, and background to add detail and character to each area you travel through. The glowing bubbles of Fog Canyon and lush verdant plant life of Greenpath perfectly capture their respective vibes and histories. In contrast, the Kingdom's Edge shows a gray, dull, and ashy landscape, where the world has simply started to decay. Ash and dust fill the air, while bodies of dead bugs can be seen falling from the Colosseum above. However, the most intricate area is arguably the City of Tears, the capital of Hallownest; its layout reflects an urban city, with visibly rich and poor areas. The Blue Lake above the city has begun leaking through the earth, putting the city in a perpetual rainy state, which adds to the solemn and decrepit atmosphere (also, raining underground? SO cool). An unmissable portion of the city includes the memorial statue of The Hollow Knight and the three Dreamers at the city’s center. Ignoring the incredible story relevance this image has, the shadowy smooth stone accompanied by the graphics of rain falling all around showcase a powerful display of detail that this game is able to replicate time and time again. Now landscapes alone can be impressive, but they're nothing without the soundscape. The musical score of Hollow Knight is one of the most interesting aspects about the game. Written by Christopher Larkin, the score features a myriad of leitmotifs that follow characters and a large variety of tempos and styles for boss fights and exploratory areas. Without this elaborate score, the atmosphere of the game would be incomplete. There is a stark contrast between most songs in the soundtrack which shows the versatility of the game and what kind of stories it can offer. “Resting Ground,” which plays as you enter an ancient bug graveyard of the same name, brings an ambiance of remembrance and warmth instead of sadness. “Fungal Wastes” is also an area song, but has a more upbeat and whimsical vibe that makes the player intrigued to learn more about the area they are in. In contrast, “Radiance” is a battle anthem that plays during one of the final boss fights of the game; it gives an epic feeling to the player to mirror the action happening on the screen. Larkin’s array of styles within the music serves the lore and course of the story very well and immerses the player into the story on a new level. The lore of this game is the secret sauce that takes it from a cute scenic walking simulator into a full-fledged saga, one that has spawned many YouTube careers. While you uncover lots of story and history through dialogue from other characters throughout the game, most of the lore in the is found either in hidden lore tablets scattered throughout the world, or through purely visual details that populate each area (literal "Environmental Storytelling"). What's beautiful about this is that it puts the onus on the player to seek out and discover more story if they want, which inherently creates a rewarding feeling when they do obtain it. In an effort to avoid spoiling any lore that's too central or impactful to the main story, the example we will use is that of the Mantis Lords, the deadly trio of sister warriors. When you arrive in their village and challenge them to battle, you may notice something interesting in the background, hidden in plain sight.
Do you see it? There's something almost faded, asymmetrical, cast aside.
To the right of the sisters, a crumbling stump of a throne. There was a fourth Lord…but who were they, where did they go? This is a question that lingers for some time and doesn't get answered until you venture deep into the Queen's Gardens in the late game. You stumble upon an observation deck, and suddenly get ambushed by Mantis Traitors, mantises who were driven mad by the Infection. But what are they doing all the way on the left edge of the map? Then, as you defeat the last mantis, the ground begins to shake, and down from the rafters falls a hulking, beastly mantis, overcome with Infection and anger. As he lets out his battle cry and the music kicks in, his boss title is revealed to be "Traitor Lord," and all the dots start to connect.
Once a Lord of the Mantis Village, while his sisters were able to resist the influence of the Infection, he gave into its power, and turned against his sisters, fleeing the village in search of becoming stronger. If it's no surprise already, you end up defeating him in battle, and his story ends in a seemingly sad way, dying as a corrupted version of a former noble warrior.
This is one example out of thousands of complex characters and stories that populate this game. What might seem like a standard adventure platformer is so much more when you look under the surface of this underground game (both in terms of popularity and setting - too many puns to pick from). For a complete package of visual beauty, captivating music, and compelling lore, this game may be the perfect experience for you. By Taylor Davis & Bekah Leipold & Faith Reidinger What Remains of Edith Finch is a first-person walking simulator game developed by Giant Sparrow Games and designed and composed by Ian Dallas and Jeff Russo, respectively. The player has arrived to the Finch household, and is taken through the remnants of the abandoned house through the perspective journal entries of Edith Finch: the returning sole survivor and inheritor of the Finch property, interested in discovering more about her broken family history. Having fled previously with her mother and following her great-grandmother’s passing, Edith recalls her interactions with her previous family members, as well as the stories that had passed through the years of their legacies and passings. Each room tells a different story, through its physical placement in the house mapping, visual elements and interactive items, short “films” of their legacies, as well as the tied artifact in every room: a shrine and photo dedicated to the member it belonged to, as well as their birth and death year. Every story has a mythical or whimsical element to it, whether in its wording (like the poetic retelling of Walter’s time in the bunkers) or visual storytelling (like Barbara’s comic-book telling of her final night alive). They seek to highlight what was special or interesting about their character: celebrating what legacies they have left behind despite their passing. The player must hit all point paths in order to advance the storyline, though the player has reign to discover each room in a unique path as they build the remaining family “tree.” As the curse continues, the player eventually finds out that they have been playing the role of Edith’s son Christopher, who is visiting the house in honor of his mother who died during his birth. What Remains of Edith Finch is considered to be among the list of iconic “walking simulator” games to date, with other titles among it being fan favorites such as Dear Esther and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and even ones we’ve played in class such as Gone Home and Firewatch. While these “walking simulators” are popularly characterized by their immersive environmental storytelling and walking-based gameplay, the genre also has some shared characteristics that are often unlisted: Edith Finch takes place off the coast of Washington State on Orcas Island where the eerie and mysterious home of the Finch family is located. Looking first at location, the game is similar to Firewatch and Gone Home in the way walking simulator projects almost always seem to take place in the Pacific Northwest, with the other two games taking place in Wyoming and Oregon respectively. Not only that, but the specific location of a remote island also matches other famous walking sims (i.e Dear Esther). Next, the bulk of gameplay stems from exploring an expansive empty house filled with the “ghosts” of those who inhabited it, another connection to genre defining walking sim Gone Home. The connection walking simulators create with their common themes of old houses shrouded in secrets located in the Pacific Northwest paints a popular perspective audiences may develop of that side of America: lands and homes surrounded in mystery, with something or someone hiding behind every corner (and the gloomy weather only adds to the eeriness). Walking simulators are often dismissed due to what some might perceive to be simple gameplay; however, it's the genre's ability to masterfully create immersive environments and storytelling filled with such suspense and intrigue that proves its validity as a credible type of video game. What sets What Remains of Edith Finch apart from other walking sims is that the story that unfolds as you explore is left up to your interpretation. Certain stories about the family members are pretty clear, it’s fairly easy to figure out that Gregory died from drowning in the tub when his mom left him unattended. However, there are other family members' stories that are left vaguer. Barbara’s story, for example, is not completely explained, and is not clarified later in the narrative. We discover her story through a comic book that was released about a year after her death, and we can infer that the family had a part in creating that comic. Was she killed by a serial killer that was mentioned during her story? Did her boyfriend do it? Could it be her little brother? Were parts of the comic book made up to make the family more interesting? We never find out. There are many theories on YouTube about the game, including from channels The Game Theorists, and Roobla, and an in-depth explanation by the channel GamerSault. Where most walking simulators just slowly reveal the story, Edith Finch gives us the option as players to discuss and debate on our own and create our own theories based on the details given. Yes, it’s a simple walking sim, but it’s also an interactive story that leaves open gaps for you to fill.
By Brianna Trunk and Eva Taub
When it comes to digital narratives, one genre that generates a large amount of conversation is analog horror. The analog horror genre has grown a budding community on YouTube in recent years with series such as Gemini Home Entertainment, The Mandela Catalog, The Backrooms and the main subject of today, The Monument Mythos. The Monument Mythos is a series uploaded on the Mister Manticore YouTube channel and currently consists of three seasons. The Monument Mythos encourages ideas about how our government hides conspiracy theories from the people. The series also takes place in an alternate reality but it still takes place using monuments that we have in our real lives. The first episode of the series is called “Liberty Lurker,” in which it is eventually revealed that, as the title suggests, there is something lurking in the Statue of Liberty. Most episodes of the series are about 3-5 minutes with two episodes breaking the 10 minute mark. The second season consists of longer episodes, as it starts to piece the story together more. The series is not just about the monuments and their alternate realities but consists of characters and lore that is slowly being uncovered as the story goes on. The full story of the series has yet to be revealed but many have speculated about the exact time line and relationships that are in the story. That is one part of The Monument Mythos that keeps viewers engaged -- the lore is still being discovered.
WARNING: The following section contains spoilers of the episode "Liberty Lurker.”
The episode begins with an interview done with the designer of the Statue of Liberty. The interview is about how the design for the base was constantly being revised by the Americans and eventually came to the base being taller than the actual statue. We then see the blueprint for the statue after it has been classified for 36 years. We see an engine, axel and wheels before we see an entrance or stairs. This is followed by further off-putting features like a drain and waste storage. The video changes to interviews with immigrants who went through Ellis Island and reported a foul smell. The video cuts to the first sighting of the Liberty Lurker and an explanation to the foul smell and waste storage area.
The most intriguing thing about this series is how real it feels. The creators do an amazing job of captivating the viewers and transporting them into a new reality. The monuments that the series covers are all monuments that exist to us in our current reality. This allows for the viewer to feel like the conspiracy theories that the channel covers could actually be real and encapsulates the viewer deeper and deeper into this new reality with every episode they watch. The channel doesn’t say these outlandish things about the monuments that viewers would have a very hard time believing, and they use interviews from people to ‘prove’ that the conspiracy theories are not just theories but the truth. The way that the channel presents the information is also in a very documentary style, which makes it even more believable. The fact that they have interviews from people, use real monuments that we can see today, and present the information the way they do is what creates this new reality where what they are saying could possibly be very true. This kind of digital literature is very important. A lot of tv shows, movies, and books transport their viewers/readers into a new reality, but most of them are so fabricated that the viewer/reader knows that the reality is not real, which takes away a little bit from the story. This analog horror genre that The Monument Mythos falls into creates stories that are so believable that it transports the viewer into a deeper, more meaningful new reality. This form of encapsulating the viewer into the new reality is what intrigues so many people and keeps them watching episode after episode.
By Amelia Tam and Francesca Zaccor Webkinz is an interactive online game created in 2005 by the toy company, Ganz. The reason Webkinz achieved such a high status among children was because it encouraged players to buy physical stuffed animals in order to play the game. Every Webkinz stuffed animal produced has an online counterpart. This digital aspect not only made the game highly marketable towards children but it also gained the support of parents. Parents could buy their children stuffed animals while at the same time providing their kids with a free interactive game where their child’s beloved stuffed animal pops up on their screen. On Webkinz’s current website, it says that the game is aimed towards 6-13 year olds. However, in my personal opinion, I think the age could be even lower. I remember starting to play Webkinz by the time I turned 4. The wonderful thing about Webkinz’s online interactive world is that it only includes content appropriate for all ages. Parents did not have to worry about their kids finding inappropriate content or bad language. Webkinz is just a fantasy world, where beloved stuffed animals come to life! Webkinz enabled players to have physical stuffed animals in real life as well as create and care for the animals digitally. Once a player buys a stuffed animal, all they have to do is enter the adoption code on the stuffed animals tag and then the animal is automatically added to the player’s world. Being able to have the same stuffed animal in real life as well as digitally was revolutionary for the time. It made the Webkinz world so much more immersive. Not only did requiring players to have stuffed animals make Ganz more money, it also allowed the franchise to become adored by many. I remember having a pink poodle Webkinz stuffed animal and it was one of my favorite stuffed animals of my childhood. Furthermore, I loved having my pink poodle but I loved getting to dress her up and decorate her room even more. In order to buy food, decorations, and clothes, a player needed to play games to earn coins also known as Kinzcash. The arcade holds tons of games to choose from. Some of my favorite games to play were “Polar Plunge,” “Smoothie Moves,” “Wacky Zingoz,” and “Candy Bash.” Most games could be played all the time, but some could only be played once a day such as “Wheel of Wow,” bringing players back in everyday to see their prizes and the special deals offered on the daily. These arcade games provided players with a fun way to make Kinzcash so they could explore other different aspects of the Webkinz World. Having Kinzcash allowed players to make purchases at “The Curio Shop,” “KinzStyle Shop,” and “The WShop." A popular aspect of this beloved franchise is “The Curio Shop”, run by Arte Fact: a character known for selling novelties, artifacts, and antiques to other Webkinz. The shop serves as a place for players to buy rare and exclusive items as well as hunt for gems. While Arte’s artifacts are often intriguing, the majority of players visit his shop in order to collect gems with the hopes of eventually being able to acquire the legendary Crown of Wonder. Gem hunting is a daily activity available to the player on the Curio Shop’s main menu. Once selected, the player is able to choose between five different mines to scavenge within. Using their mouse pointer, the player can choose where they’d like to mine. That being said, gems aren’t guaranteed with each hit of the pickaxe. More often than not, a player will return from the mines with nothing but slag. There are 30 gems to hunt overall, and they come in shades of blue, green, red, yellow, and white. The gems are each broken down into three rarities: common, uncommon, and rare. If the player uncovers a gem, it’s their choice to either keep it in their Gem Collection or sell it to Arte. Lastly, another reason why this shop is loved by so many is because the player is able to form a relationship with the shop’s owner. Depending on the player’s purchases or how well they tip, they can strengthen their relationship with Arte. The closer you get to him, the easier it becomes to ask him about sales and when his rare items will become available. Growing up, I remember logging onto Webkinz just for a moment on my busiest days just so I’d be able to visit the Curio Shop and hunt for gems. We chose Webkinz because it was a game from our childhoods that was ahead of its time. Our classes’ forum has been talking a lot about nostalgia recently. Birdland and Great Rock and Roll Pauses prompted a lot of nostalgic feelings for people and Webkinz does just that. It's a game that calls back to a simpler time where interactive media was just about fantasy, immersion, and escapism. We think it's important to revisit that, especially at our age. A game such as Webkinz allows us to explore our imagination and tap into that child-like aspect of just playing
By Lily Bryson, Bryn Sentnor, and Sam Stokes The realm of mobile gaming is often associated with Clash of Clans and other online RPG apps, which combine fighting games with the sort of general farming/gathering typical of early social network games like Farmville, which spread like wildfire across Facebook in 2009. However, one specific niche of game apps is choose-your-own-adventure story apps, the most notorious of which is Episode, launched in 2014. It boasts both user-made and app-official stories that feature animated characters that act out your choices and allow you to customize your playable character, down to the eyebrows! However, despite its marketing towards young teenagers, Episode has some iffy elements, including highly sexualized stories featuring underage characters, lack of diversity in customizable elements, and generally terrible writing. So why is it so addictive, and is it a source of enjoyable storytelling, or just a poorly-written waste of time? In the forum posts from Week 4 of class, many people commented that they felt frustrated while playing through Brendan Patrick Hennessy’s Birdland. This frustration stemmed from the fact that the game would show you all the available options at any given decision point, but sometimes, some of those options would be unavailable for you to choose because of your mood statistics. Episode restricts some of the choices you can make in a similar manner, but instead of inhibiting your choices based on previous choices you make, players’ options are limited by price. Episode capitalizes on the desire to make good decisions by forcing players to pay for the “good” options using an in-app currency called gems. These options are known as premium options, and they can be anything from choosing a more stylish outfit over sweatpants and a t-shirt, to sharing a moment of physical intimacy with the person your character is attracted to in the game. Technically, you can accrue gems without spending any real-world money. However, there are only two ways to earn gems. One is by completing daily tasks in order to earn “shards,” which you can then exchange for gems at a rate of 100:1. The other is by completing a chapter (or, an episode) of a story, but even that is limited, as you have to have passes in order to start a new chapter. Passes also cost real-world money unless you wait several hours for your free passes to refill. All of these options are tedious and take a lot of time, and teenagers – the app’s targeted audience – generally don’t have the patience for that; they much prefer instant gratification over delayed gratification. Episode’s primary draw is the detailed customization options available for the player’s self-insert character; not only can you choose your name, but you have dozens of options for customizing your physical appearance, including skin tone, body type, face shape, hair color and style, eye color and shape, eyebrow shape and color, and lip shape and color. You can recreate yourself down to the texture and length of your hair, or you can create some idealized creation worthy of the cover of Vogue. This is unique in contrast to the choose-your-own narratives we’ve discussed in class, since those were not customizable at all; instead the player controlled a pre-written character, which, when partnered with a clear visual representation like in Bandersnatch, can lead to a feeling of disconnect from the narrative on the part of the player. However, this level of customization does not extend to every facet of your character, which leads to a fairly one-dimensional user experience. First off, the player typically doesn’t get a choice as to the gender of their character; the default is a stereotypically feminine body, complete with massive boobs. (A running theme of Episode is the rampant sexualization of characters, even in stories set in high school with minor characters. It’s rare to get a default outfit that’s not cleavage city, or the bare-chested male equivalent.) On rare occasions, there is a choice between “guy” and “girl”, but you never, in our experience, get a choice of pronouns. What is more common now, although it wasn’t when the game was first released, is a choice in love interest, both in terms of gender and appearance, though the options still adhere to a very rigid notion of binary gender. In terms of physical appearance, there are a dizzying array of options for hairstyle, skin tone, and more, which have ballooned in size since 2014. While the options for racial diversity are numerous and generally good quality, there are no choices for any sort of religious apparel like head coverings. Further, the choices of body type are performative at best. For female characters, there are three options that are the exact same body size and shape, albeit with slightly different shading options, and one (1) plus-size option (see below), with zero options to customize further. Male characters have even fewer options. While these existing choices are great, it’s clear that a lot more work needs to be done so every player can make a character that at least semi-accurately reflects who they are. It’s also worthy to note that these more diverse choices are relatively new to the game; when one group member began playing in 2016, options like queer relationships, diverse body types, and even the range of hairstyles did not exist. The app presumed its audience was primarily cis, female and heterosexual, and didn’t incorporate customizations that didn’t fit neatly into that niche. The efforts that have been made are certainly a step in the right direction, but there is clearly a lot more to the human experience that the app has yet to incorporate. A lot of people are drawn to choose-your-own-adventure narratives for the sake of escapism and to experience navigating a world other than their own, and Episode takes this to an even more idealized extent. Of the episodes that focus on the lives of everyday people, the settings are very often large, grand, and luxurious. The houses the characters dwell in have sweeping staircases and marble flooring, while the high schools look like expensive private colleges. Episode creates an extremely idealized version of reality for characters that are supposedly your normal, average, everyday people. Similar to how the app’s default for a customizable avatar’s body type is a hypersexualized, hyperfeminine-presenting woman, the app further pushes an idealized and likely unachievable version of reality as the norm. In terms of the quality of the writing and overall storytelling, a vast majority of the narratives you’re given the option to explore are similar to that of a reality show. With reality television shows, you know that what you’re watching is hot garbage, yet it is so hard to turn away. There is something so captivating about watching people bicker over ridiculous drama, and that is exactly what Episode relies on. The storylines are absolute trash, but something about living vicariously through a shallow, yet glamorous person is so addicting and brain numbing. Another defining theme the writing team heavily relies upon is – you guessed it! – sex appeal. It is no surprise that a vast majority of Episode's narratives are painfully hypersexual. There is nothing inherently wrong with sexual stories, but the problem is a lot of these stories are about high schoolers, not to mention the fact that this app is heavily marketed towards young teenagers and preteens.
Episode is, to put it plainly, a flaming dumpster fire of an app. The writing is far from high quality, the customization is lacking diversity, and the app limits you from choosing options that are enjoyable unless you throw your credit card at them. All this to say, even though Episode has its problems, the app is wildly addicting. It is the reality television of choose-your-own-adventure games. If you’re looking for mentally stimulating and enriching branching narratives to immerse yourself in, you would be better off looking elsewhere. But if you just want a campy, cheesy good time (and don’t mind sacrificing some fun outfits for the sake of not spending money), Episode might be for you!
By Kerrigan Dunham and Cate Phillips
If you've played video games, chances are that you have a video game soundtrack (OST - Original Soundtrack) that you keep close by to listen to. You probably attached to that music because of the emotional impact playing that game had on you at the time. Because of this, it's no surprise that the UNDERTALE OST is as infamous as it is today. What is the secret behind this game's unrivaled success and popularity? Though disguised, choice plays a very large role in this game, and can affect how you hear and see many different scenes and melodies. By examining the leitmotifs and themes that build up the soundtrack, we can examine how Toby Fox uses recurring melodies to add substance and depth to his overarching narrative.
The song UNDERTALE is the most prevalent in the entire narrative as the song is literally named after the game. This is the first leitmotif the player encounters in "Once Upon A Time" as the game tells the story of how Frisk landed in the underground; the UNDERTALE theme is rather simple in this melody. It appears again in "Home" to signal the player that the story is progressing and the melody is more elaborated on and paired with another leitmotif, "Hopes," which will later be discussed. After you leave the Ruins, you do not hear much of the UNDERTALE leitmotif. The next time we see this is in "Can You Really Call This a Hotel…" when the Frisk enters the Mettaton Hotel to symbolize the midway point of the game and realizing how far through the underground you have made it. "The Choice" may be the last time you hear the UNDERTALE motif if you receive the Neutral endings of the game, however it is slowed down to a great extent. If you go down the Pacifist route, the UNDERTALE theme appears in almost every song becoming more and more elaborate as you get closer to the end; it appears in "Fallen Down (Reprise)" and "Hopes and Dreams/Save the World." The final time the theme is played is in "Reunited" in its more simple and softer form. The player is leaving the underground and almost all conflict has been resolved so all is at peace in the underground and your (under)tale is over.
On a more "hopeful" note, the next prominent leitmotif we're covering is HOPES, the feeling of trust and optimism propelling the player through the game, especially on pacifist playthroughs of the game. It first appears as you enter the "Snowy" region and theme for the first time, with a slow piano and violin combo to warm you up to it, and it will actually play slower or faster if you have already shown signs of heading in the genocidal or pacifistic directions respectively. The theme is further developed and utilized once you enter Snowdin Town, adding sleigh bells and higher pitched and faster rhythms, evoking feelings of comfort and homey vibes, like Christmas in your hometown. As you spend time in Snowdin Town, you go on to see other fun variations of the theme, as it is used in the "Shop" theme as well as the "Dating Start" and "Dating Fight" themes to hilarious proportions, speeding up or slowing down to match the respective vibes! However, there comes a period in the game where you don't hear the theme for a while. This matches the events of the game, as after Snowdin Town, you start to face actual conflict and dangerous characters, throwing you fully into the narrative and onto your main goal of the game, which will involve taking your way all the way through the Underground. However, if you make it to the "end" of the game, and continue to beat the True Pacifist Route of the game (the objectively best route in our opinion), you will be faced with a final boss of epic proportions, with the theme "Hopes and Dreams" cheering you on, as the HOPES leitmotif returns to aid you and help you defeat your foe. It even appears after in the epilogue theme "Reunited," as a nice reminder of all you've accomplished. However, this game would simply not be complete without the leitmotif that arguably holds it all together: DETERMINATION. This theme is probably the one player will hear the most out of any singular theme, as it is the theme that plays during every "Game Over" screen, encouraging the player to pick themselves back up, and try again. In conjunction with this, every SAVE point throughout the game reminds the player of something positive that fills them with determination (during pacifist/neutral runs), or just directly tells the player "Determination;" this reminds them to stay focused and motivated, but also acts as a sort of double entendre, as 'De-termination' can literally mean 'not dying,' and the SAVE points allow you to come back every time you face a death or obstacle. This would be cool enough, but the theme also makes a pivotal appearance during the fight with Asgore near the climax of the game. In the latter half of one of the harder and scarier boss fights in the game, when players might be feeling shook or intimidated, the DETERMINATION theme comes in to reinforce the players in their time of need, helping them to win the battle. The inclusion of these masterful leitmotifs helps not only to reveal story and character from the game, but also provides a sense of familiarity that enhances the experience. So, if you're playing the game on mute, you are not getting the full story. There are so many more themes to explore (that we unfortunately don’t have time for), so the next time you play UNDERTALE, make choices, see how your actions affect the music, and immerse yourself in the musical magic of this once-in-a-lifetime story! By Justin Corp & Sam Moore DISCLAIMER: First, know that the we have gone through a good deal of work to avoid any spoilers for this piece of literature. If this post intrigues you, don’t read reviews, don’t watch gameplay, and don’t spoil the game for yourself. If you’re ready to be subjected to the torture that this narrative presents to you, download the game for free on Steam. How can a seemingly harmless game spawn Steam reviews such as this? Or this? Doki Doki Literature Club! is that kind of scarring experience that everyone should have exactly one of. People that haven’t played the game probably haven’t heard of it. People that have played the game don’t want to replay it ever again. This polarizing game is the pinnacle of the integration between technology and storytelling. Although it looks like a typical anime dating sim, Doki Doki Literature Club! is a free-to-play, psychological horror game, produced by indie studio Team Salvato. Dan Salvato, the head of Team Salvato, was originally notorious in the gaming community for his modding work on Super Smash Brothers Melee. It’s not an exaggeration to say that nobody expected him to make a work quite like this one. The game follows the main character (however you choose to name him) as he joins the school literature club with four single girls. By creating literature of your own, you’re able to gain the attention of certain characters. Members of the literature club include: Sayori, the youthful bundle of sunshine who values happiness the most; Natsuki, the deceivingly cute girl who packs an assertive punch; Yuri, the timid and mysterious one who finds comfort in the world of books; and, of course, Monika, the leader of the club! The game offers you keywords that relate back to your four classmates, and by using words that relate to a specific peer, you’ll get character specific dialogue. Fun, right? Similar to other choice-based narratives, the true power of this game is the illusion of choice. Narratives like Firewatch, Lifeline, and Birdland also touch on this notion. The choices you make mean something, but the story will go on. Unlike the other games we’ve touched on in class, this game draws out the differences between the player and the protagonist. As certain events unfold, it becomes apparent that “you” and “your character” are wildly different people. And that’s only the start of the metafiction that this game holds. As things derail, you learn a lot about your choices and what they can mean in this universe- as well as who controls these choices. Upon downloading the game, developer Team Salvato provides the disclaimer: “This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.” Before playing this game, most people would say that they don’t consider themselves part of that disclaimer. And then the rollercoaster begins. The game spends about two hours as a dating simulator with a few unique factors, when a dark twist comes at about the two hour mark, even the game client itself is out to get you. Imagine all of the metafiction of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch with all of the mechanics of Birdland, and you’re getting close to the basics of the game. After the mark, the game transforms from a seemingly-innocent dating simulator into something much, much darker. Apart from the more obvious themes of the game, Doki Doki Literature Club! approaches classic high school tropes with a fresh twist. The stereotypes start to play out as they usually do: general introductions, romantic tension builds between two people (sometimes more), and it usually leads up to a big profession of love, right? However, as things progress, the game completely flips these on its head (along with the rest of the plot) by...well, it’s best if you play the game to fully experience what we’re talking about.
As countless Steam reviews describe, Doki Doki Literature Club! isn’t just a game, it’s an experience. This rollercoaster of a ride toys with themes of meta-fiction and the illusion of choice by combining them with horror tropes, and what you get is one of the most exhilarating, thrilling, terrifying rides of your life. After reading this, we highly recommend that you go and try out the game for yourself. Don’t read any other material, don’t watch any playthroughs, don’t spoil any plot points. It’s a game best experienced blind. Relax, sit back, and write some poetry — while you still can. By Nathan Dahill & Gwen Klinkey In 1992, Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski published his first book in The Witcher series, featuring main character Geralt of Rivia. With iconic flowing white hair and glowing cat eyes, and staple quotes including the wise and cleverly worded “hmm,” Geralt would continue on to become one of the most recognizable faces in the video game industry. Although this game started as a lengthy book series, gamer developers saw potential in this narrative and took the opportunity to transform this into a game saga that would not only bring to life beloved characters such as Geralt, but bring a fantastical story across two different forms of media. Although some games such as these have flopped, such as the Playstation versions of various Harry Potter books, The Witcher has found success in this new form of media and has been able to not only produce one adaptation, but use the format of video games to push the narrative and further develop the story. Despite the novels developing well-loved characters, the end of the series leaves readers knowing that there is further life to live in the established world, and the games continue the story that was left open ended to the reader. The most recent game Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt picks up at an undetermined time in the future, and while it is playable and enjoyable on its own, having backstory provided by the novels can create a more enjoyable experience as there are many small Easter eggs that you can pick up throughout the world ranging from specific books written by long dead mentors to botched attempts at fixing infertility to a taxidermied unicorn. Many players, however, are unfortunately not willing to read a seven-book-long series in order to get that backstory, but lucky for them, Netflix recently released its series The Witcher as a prequel for the games allowing players and fans of the game to witness character history in a supposedly “easier” way. Through both the release of the books and TV show, characters of the The Witcher, and subsequently Witcher 3 have been constructed in very specific ways. For example, in the world of The Witcher, Witchers (a magical human mutant species) are treated very poorly, and as such Geralt, a Witcher, has gained a sour disposition and works under the guise of solely financial gain when in actuality he has a soft spot for an underdog. While these diverse traits are set in stone in both the TV show and books, the game introduces the opportunity to further flesh out these traits in any way the player desires. Many dialogue choices that are presented in the game provide different options, often targeting different aspects of Geralt’s personality. Offering these options to the player increases player agency and provides an opportunity to create a version of Geralt that they can identify more with, whether that is a caring and sympathetic Geralt, or a heartless playboy, this system allows for a greater chance of empathy from the player. One of these recurring choices deals with the strong theme of romance that runs throughout all the different forms of media. In the beginning of Witcher 3, Geralt reunites with a long lost love of his, Yennefer who has been bound to him previously through a wish to a genie, after breaking the spell later in the game, you can choose to stay with her, or abandon her and break her heart to pursue another woman Triss. Some players have attempted to have the best of both worlds which ends in Geralt being dumped by both women in a very tumultuous scene. Whatever choices a player decides to make, they not only allow for a customization of Geralt, but can change the path and various outcomes of the game. Some choices made in previous main and side quests can cause a ripple effect throughout other quests and just the world in general. One prime example of this is the optional witcher contract, “Skellige’s Most Wanted,” during which Geralt comes across a gang of monsters: a werewolf, a troll, a doppler, and a godling. The werewolf is strongly set on seeing Geralt as a threat, but how the other three monsters view Geralt depends on how Geralt has treated some other non-humans and monsters in previous side-quests. If Geralt has been empathetic and compassionate towards other non-humans and sentient monsters in the past, then the other three monsters will choose to support Geralt and let him kill the werewolf with impunity and leave the area. Another example is how the social and political situations in the city of Novigrad can be altered depending on if the player decides to take on or ignore some specific side quests. When Geralt first arrives in Novigrad, Witch Hunters and the Order of the Eternal Fire are on the hunt for mages scattered across the city, and Triss asks for you to help her escort the surviving mages out of the city. If Geralt chooses to help Triss and the mages, then it will be revealed at the end of the game that once the mages escaped Novigrad, the Witch Hunters and the Order of the Eternal Fire turn their extreme prejudice towards all non-humans. It must be noted that this is only one of the several major and minor effects players can have on Novigrad at the end, not to mention the rest of the game world. Novigrad is just one of the many locations you go to, and yet players’ choices can change which kingdom takes control of it, who runs the city’s criminal underworld, the fate of non-humans and mages in the city, etc., sometimes without knowing the influence they had on the outcome. Again, those are just a couple alterations Geralt can cause on his journey across the Northern Kingdoms. CD Projekt Red has made a testament to how the maturing games industry can be a perfect medium for interactive adaptations of existing published narratives and still stand out on its own. This game, or rather the whole game series, could’ve suffered from either trying to stay to close to the original source material or going too far from the books, but it manages to be a perfect balance while also going above and beyond with the size and scope of the story world. Both people who were already fans of the books prior to the games and newcomers to the Witcher franchise are able to find equal enjoyment in being the Geralt of Rivia they seek out to be in a vast, rich, living, breathing world.
By Charlize Pate [Warning: this post contains spoilers for (My) Immortal: The Web Series, My Immortal, and Harry Potter] (My) Immortal: The Web Series is a series of videos posted to YouTube based on the infamous Harry Potter fanfiction My Immortal by Tara Gilesbie. It was created by Mediajunkie Studios and ran from 2013 to 2014. It features some main characters from Harry Potter, Tara Gilesbie’s original characters, Mary Sues, a confusing plot, and epic double-handed wand-wielding battles. In order to understand the web series, it is important to have a bit of background on the original written fanfiction. My Immortal was published serially between 2006 and 2007 on FanFiction.net by “XXXbloodyrists666XXX,” or Tara Gilesbie (a pseudonym). It is unknown whether the story is meant to be a serious attempt at fanfiction, or complete satire, but it features out-of-character characters, bad writing, furious authors notes, terrible grammar and spelling, and an incomprehensible plot. Originally, she worked with an editor “bloodytearz666,” or “Raven,” but partway through the story they had a falling out, and it only got worse from there. The main characters from Harry Potter have been renamed from Harry to “Vampire” Potter, Ron Weasley has now become “Diablo,” and Hermione is called “B’loody Mary Smith.” Then there is the main character: Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way—more commonly called “Enoby” throughout the story. The iconic name that has spawned many a meme along with the opening paragraph. She is also a Mary Sue self-insert character. Despite the author’s attempts at disputing this, there was one time in the story where she actually referred to Enoby as “Tara,” her own penname. Another thing to note is that the author admitted to not having read all of the Harry Potter books and was going off the movies. In 2006, the last book still had not been published and the fourth movie was the last to come out. Other than the character names (barely), there is very little that connects it to the Harry Potter universe. The fanfic was removed from FanFiction.net by administrators in 2008 for unknown reasons, though people like to speculate it was because it was so bad. It has since been reposted by fans via copy and paste to other platforms. The bottom line is: My Immortal is bad. But if you can manage to get past how awful it is, it’s so bad it’s good. And incredibly funny. It is hard to imagine how such an unfortunately composed, plot hole-filled, terrible digital narrative was transformed into a web series. But it happened surprisingly successfully. At first the lack of consistency with an already inconsistent narrative can be a bit jarring, but after sitting with the original fanfiction for a while, coming back to it in video format can be refreshingly nostalgic. (My) Immortal: The Web Series does not follow the plot of the fanfiction (tenuous as it is), though it is clearly based in the story. And the creators of the series have likely read all of the Harry Potter books. It is obvious the show is based both on the fanfic and the original Harry Potter books, acting as a sort of commentary on the fanfiction while also existing as a different version of the narrative. And they balance this in a clever way; they use Enoby as what she is—a self-insert Mary Sue character. The show even breaks the fourth wall and has some characters refer to themselves as a Mary Sue, using the idea that they are capable of anything as an occasional plot point. And the characters borrowed from J. K. Rowling are more similar to their book-selves than they were in the fanfiction, and a lot of what is perceived by readers is now presented as being in Enoby’s head, which is basically what self-insert fanfiction is. That is not to say the characters truly act like their original versions—there is no way to market any version of My Immortal as being part of the Harry Potter universe. Instead, the web series takes it in a different direction. The series’ base storyline barely exists—and wholly differs from the original—but it tries hard to include representation of people and relationships that felt shoehorned in and glazed over in the fanfiction. The web series no longer has to revolve around the perspective of a Mary Sue and is able to focus on multiple characters and storylines while also maintaining its wholly ridiculous plot. The main one included in the first season is the budding romance between Draco Malfoy and Harry “Vampire” Potter, both of whom had previously dated Enoby. This fades into the background when they are already together in the second season to make way for more of the relationship between Hermione and Enoby as well as Enoby’s gothic romance with Tom Riddle after he appears out of a diary, having previously been dead.
As hilarious as this series is, a lot of the humor in it might not come through if viewers are not familiar with the source material it borrows from. There are many inside jokes and jabs at the fanfic, such as irregular mispronunciation of character names, or text included in the previews for the next episode that otherwise make no sense. If viewers get hung up on the fact they cannot follow the plot, then this is not the story for them. In the original fanfic, characters could die on one page and be completely fine several paragraphs later, seemingly because the author just forgot she killed them off. At least in the web series they offer some explanation and have them come back as zombies. The videos take semi-consistent aspects from the fanfiction and stabilize them. One of the main plots from season two is having the gothic people ruling over the preps and calling people “preps” is basically the highest insult the fanfic has, as being “goffik” is the epitome of being. (My) Immortal: The Web Series is an interesting example of what a digital narrative is, and what it can be, because Mediajunkie Studios took what was already an unorthodox digital narrative and used the bad bits as plot points as well as making the inconsistencies more digestible. It is a meta concept with excellent execution and took a messy story and made it into something almost comprehensible while still retaining the freedom to tell the stories they wanted to tell. By Spencer Avery Near the beginning of our arduous quarantine, I hadn’t gotten quite as used to the constant state of boredom that we all know far too well these days. In a mad effort to cope with my spiralling mental state, I decided to pick up a new game. One of Playstation Plus’s free games of the month was the remastered edition of the PC classic Shadow of the Colossus. I had played the game for a few short hours several years back (maybe at a friend’s house?) but I decided that I wanted to blaze through this game from start to finish, knocking another title off of my videogame bucket-list. When I started up the game, I was immediately struck by the gorgeous visuals in the opening sequence of the game. A solitary hero, scaling a steep mountain on horseback while the stark silhouette of a hawk cast its moonlit shadow on the rocks below. This game was beautiful back on the Playstation 2. But in all of its 4K HDR glory? Boy was I in for a visual treat. I was immersed in the environment and the short exposition being laid down before me, all told with little to no words. A young man, a horse, the body of the girl that he carries. They ride across a massive stone bridge to an ancient temple. Upon reaching the temple, the young man lays the corpse on an altar and a booming voice in a cryptic ancient language fills the hall. It promises the man that it can bring the girl back to life if he slays the sixteen Colossi that roam the land near the temple. The sword he carries will allow him to do this. All that is known is that the sacrifice will be great and that the young man is willing. With that, he sets off, and no more words are spoken. The beauty of this sequence is the sheer vagueness of it. The player is only told the information that is absolutely necessary to understanding their objective: slay the Colossi; save the girl. That’s it. No instructions. I soon figured out that holding my sword up to the sky created light beams that would focus in the direction of the next Colossus. Aside from a crude and mostly barren map that can be brought up, this is the player’s only form of navigation. There is no inventory, no enemies (aside from the Colossi), and no NPC’s. Just you, your horse, your sword, and your bow. The only elements of what could be considered a HUD are a red health bar, and a yellow circle that shows your remaining stamina (both of these are unlabeled). The controls are very simple, and only allow for basic movement and the firing of arrows.
Every time that I found a new Colossus, I was met with more of a puzzle than an actual boss fight. Shadow of the Colossus doesn’t really have a combat system, per se. Each colossal encounter involves figuring out how to climb onto the Colossus to reach (and stab) its glowing blue weak points. Dormin (the booming bodiless voice from the intro) occasionally chimes in with a hint if you’re stuck. This can involve difficult climbing challenges, creative uses of the bow and arrow, interaction with the natural environment, and a number of other factors that are all up to the player to discover. Once a Colossus is defeated, the player is overtaken by ghostly black tendrils that shoot from the dead Colossi, and they are teleported back to the temple for another cryptic hint about the nature of the next Colossus. The brilliance of Shadow of the Colossus is in its development theory. Team Ico (the devs of SOTC) used the principle of “design by subtraction” in which they stripped down every non-essential element of the game that didn’t contribute to the emotional journey of the player. What’s left is beautiful. At its heart, SOTC is a game about being alone. Wander (the hero you play as) is seeking to bring back a loved one. He tries to complete this task in complete solitude. Dormin is a spirit trapped within the temple, waiting for an adventurer that he can trick into setting him free by slaying the Colossi. Even the Colossi themselves are lone wanderers, peacefully inhabiting their desolate dwellings. SOTC makes the player feel this. It makes the player know what it is like to feel alone. In the end (spoiler alert) Wander kills all of the Colossi, but he fails his quest. He abandons his people, seeking a miracle, and in doing so is tricked by Dormin who possesses his body and kills him. Dormin succeeds in being freed by Wander, but also shortly dies. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what SOTC is trying to say. It certainly made me feel things. And when I look back on those feelings, and the feelings that I’m feeling now, all cooped up in my house, they aren’t all that different. I feel alone. I feel restless. I want the lonesomeness to end, but I know that that isn’t an option right now. And that’s okay. I think SOTC is trying to tell its players that sometimes being alone is okay. It can be sad. It can be scary. It can feel like it will go on forever. But in the end, if we stay ardent and use the time that is given us, everything will be okay. |
AuthorWe are the students of "Digital Literatures" at Millikin University. These are some of the digital narratives that entice, inspire, and challenge us. Categories
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