🌹 Player Intuition as a Catalyst for Change - How Decarnation and Slay the Princess Utilize Player Perception to Empower Agency within their Narratives

Player Intuition as a Catalyst for Change - How Decarnation and Slay the Princess Utilize Player Perception to Empower Agency within their Narratives

As I alluded to in my essay on Dredge, last years game awards really opened my eyes to how many brilliant games I was missing out on due to my overtly busy schedule. In a desperate attempt to open my third eye to the countless games that had flew under my radar, I scoured through Steam’s Game Awards sale when I spotted a little cosmic horror game that I had never heard of before. I clicked in, scoped out the trailer and was drawn in by some incredible looking and visceral art design, and the name alone which just caught my attention; Decarnation.

It was by a studio I hadn’t heard of before, Atelier QDB, and it appeared that Decarnation was their one baby and at this point I was more than willing to check it out. Particularly because I had been in talks with a creative partner of mine about a game development project which too existed in the realm of cosmic horror told through a mostly text based, pixel art style, and Decarnation seemed the perfect trial to submerge myself into that genre. That and at the time I was limited to only my laptop, so a less intensive to run game was extra appreciated.

With that, I installed the game, closed the curtains, embraced myself into the darkness of my room and let Decarnation fully absorb my attention, which it most certainly did. The game opens up to our protagonist, Gloria, who is modeling for an artist making a sculpture of her and immediately this game bombards you with its core themes; the isolating horror of being objectified. There is something vulnerable about this being our introduction to the protagonist, and it truly sets the tone for the story that follows. As we learn more of Gloria, a dancer at a cabaret show in France, we get a clear picture of the external pressures which surround her life, as she is always viewed under a lens. Those who watch her at the cabaret show, her boss, her mother etc. Tension gradually rises as Gloria and her partner heads to see the sculpture of herself displayed at an art exhibition. This comes to a boil as we get to the sculpture itself, which is being groped by a stranger as Gloria enters. There is a sudden violent tone shift, and from this point onwards the world of Decarnation begins to distort and corrupt at the very seams.

Decarnation continually forces the player into nightmare sequences where they are at the complete whims of the distorted version of France which begins to engulf Gloria. These nightmares contain some visceral moments of gore and body horror and subjects the player to it alongside Gloria. These range from odd little monster men to absolutely diabolical depictions of Gloria herself which look straight out of Jujutsu Kaisen’s Shibuya Incident Arc (still emotionally damaged by the way). For many of these segments, the mechanics themselves invoke this imagery, such as when traversing the distorted version of the art exhibit where the player can do nothing only press inputs to make Gloria literally scream the monsters away. These segments make you feel hopeless and at complete odds to the world around you which only becomes more extreme when Gloria is narratively forced into a position where all she can do is dream.

After getting what appears to be a life changing work opportunity, Gloria is kidnapped and locked away in a basement prison by a stalker who continually lies and deceives her, separating her from the outside world and forcing her to exist purely in the basement and realm of her subconscious. This narrative dynamic is core to the pacing of Decarnation and the player quickly becomes adjusted to navigating through nightmare sequences, which is intermittently broken up by dialogue exchanges with Gloria’s stalker captor. In doing this, the dialogue sequences with her captor act as pause and allows breaks between the visceral nightmare segments which provide us respite despite the messed up implications of the situation. This perfectly mirrored the Stockholm syndrome experienced by Gloria, induced purposely by her captor allowing the player to directly relate to the her experience through catharsis. When the suspension of this is shattered later in the narrative, both Gloria and the player feel desperate and in complete lack of control.

Control is a particularly interesting part of the game, as very rarely is the player given direct commands or inputs as to what to do but is rather let explore the shifting nightmare world and piece puzzles together procedurally by taking in the environment and through trial and error. By doing this, the player truly feels isolated and alone in the world, as our control of Gloria appears to be allowed at an equal level to how the world shifts around her and as such our agency feels as disposable as Gloria’s. This brilliantly heightens the horror throughout the experience, and allows for some subtly done puzzle segments with little to no UI direction (this is a good thing, take notes Ubisoft).

As the narrative progresses, and Gloria is spurred by premonitions to trust in herself, the player is embraced by increasingly vague yet decisive puzzles which reinforce the themes of self trust, as while you play you suddenly find yourself following your own initiative rather than any predisposed indicator provided by the game world, and in doing so, our connection to Gloria is strengthened. This is core to how Decarnation tells its story, and alongside its phenomenal art direction allows for a chilling, intimate experience.

Another game which I played around the same time which I felt evoked similar feelings in me was Slay the Princess by Black Tabby Games, a truly brilliant choose your own adventure games which - in a style awfully akin to The Stanley Parable - utilizes narrators and fourth wall breaks to tell a truly fascinating narrative. What stands out the most about this game in my comparison to Decarnation, is how the player’s perception of the game actively changes the games progression. In Slay the Princess, the player is tasked with killing a princess and controls a character, the Voice of the Hero, who is guided by an external narrator. As you play, the decisions you actively make continually alter the story. The princess changes depending on how you perceive her to be - i.e. if you are super cautious and expect the worse she gradually turns into a demon, but if you go in expected her to be harmless she will literally shrink and became a harmless dote. Similarly, the actions you take in each run of the game determine the protagonist for the subsequent run - i.e. if you are gung-ho about killing the princess off the bat, the next protagonist will be the Voice of the Stubborn, if you try ally with the princess the next protagonist will be the Voice of the Smitten etc. These mechanics however aren’t told to you at all, and rather you must work this out yourself as the player and as the main catalyst for change in the narrative. I could write an entire essay alone about the narrative nuances of Slay the Princess (and who knows, I might just) but the reason I bring it up here is because both this game and Decarnation highlight the player’s thoughts as a catalyst for action within the narrative.

By having the player’s personal perception of the game world constantly play so much in the deciphering of puzzles and mechanics, when the narratives revolve around trusting oneself, keeping your core values above those who objectify and surround you and in Slay the Princess’ case, the pursuit of change as life's ultimate transgressor, then the player can truly appreciate the inner workings of these narratives and as such connect to the characters thoughts directly.

Decarnation does a fantastic job throughout at invoking the right emotions at the right times. During the nightmare segments, the player is exposed to the despair inducing inner tortures of Gloria’s psyche and this is highlighted through the design of its world, enemies and the way in which one must traverse the levels, such as puzzle segments where you must die to create paths to progress. Furthermore, the players intuition is heavily respected throughout, and as such the game does very little hand holding and always lets the player work through things themselves. This is crucial to the story the game is trying to tell. By having the player view, assess and commit to decisions - the gameplay experience is equated to Gloria’s learning experience of not taking everything at face value the way others perceive and force their ideologies onto her. In the sense that the others in her life make her life feel scripted and out of her control, the liberation in design of the nightmare segments and puzzles really distinguish the difference between that sort of linear lifestyle in juxtaposition to the more liberating life we see her pursue at the end of the narrative.

All in all, throughout the narrative, we see Gloria’s nightmarish perception of the world around her distort and become as ugly as those who manipulate her, and in forcefully traversing this seemingly untraversable path, we as the player help forge Gloria’s realization that she can infact dismiss these abhorrent things which surround her and live her own life. The story of Decarnation is nothing short of fantastic for the brief experience it is, and through its clever puzzle design and excellent pacing, the message never feels contrived or diluted and rather exposes the theme to both Gloria and the player in tandem, and reinforces it through the art, sound and narrative design. If cosmic horror and/or short burst story experiences are your jam, I would highly recommend Decarnation, as there is clearly a lot of passion behind the story told and in submerging myself into its narrative, I was rewarded with a truly cathartic horror experience and a brilliant story to boot. With that all being said, I’ll leave the discussion there and let Decarnation speak for itself if you choose to check it out. Have yourself a damn good one.

Good night and good luck.