Altruism in Temporal Space - How Tenet and Undertale Highlight the Fragility of the Human Experience Using Implied External Narratives
Both Tenet and Undertale propose a temporal continuity that so vastly overshadows our own, yet exposes us to them through very grounded, human experiences — highlighting the importance of the unimportant, as it is all subjective upon our own altruistic motivations.
Curiosity Killed the Sailor - How Dredge Explores Humanity's Need for Companionship
Dredge evokes a feeling of dread-sparked curiosity. You're simultaneously lulled into a false sense of humble security while also stirred with suggestions that something bad, that you can't even imagine, is out there.
Horrors of Virtual Ignorance - How the Blair Witch Project and House of Leaves Forego Medium Assumptions to Create Unfamiliar Terror
When we lack the need for suspension of disbelief, we can truly be exposed to visceral, heart-stopping terror. This very same sensation is captured in the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project — and in Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves.
Mechanics that Explore the Narrative - How Jusant Highlights Themes of Naivety and Ignorance through Liberating World and Mechanical Design
In a market oversaturated with mediocre open world games, Jusant embraces linearity by saturating its world with detail — detail that contributes to the entire tone and narrative in tandem with the mechanics to allow for a fulfilling experience in what is otherwise a story about climbing up a big tower.
Player Intuition as a Catalyst for Change - How Decarnation and Slay the Princess Utilize Player Perception to Empower Agency within their Narratives
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 and keeping your core values above those who objectify and surround you, the player can truly appreciate the inner workings of these narratives and connect to the characters' thoughts directly.