Beyond a shadow of a doubt? A critical mind’s comments on fear itself.
Shadows are an often used mechanic in video games, your character casts a shadow, depending on your graphics settings and this forms a basis for a game where the sun's being blocks from things makes them darker behind, good, now i’ve got the heavy science out the way it’s time to take a look at two games with very different approaches to how they handle shadows. That’s right, two games in one review and it’s not just because one alone fill the words count, because i don’t have one. My review of resident evil two spinning out into a tantalizing 14,000 word while my coverage of animal cross is currently non existent… in the literal sense.
Anyway, video games. Alan wakes is a game released sometime a few years ago by google it, it’ll take you two seconds. The game follows protagonist that writes stories; a writer, in a idyllic new england setting experiencing the terror of a vast and unknown cosmic horror, probably inspired by roald dahl then. The evil lives under the nearby lake, probably the loch ness monster. Already the game presents you with a synergistic theme of having a writer as the protagonist, writer normally aren't the protagonist. a trope subverted in many works from a very key and prominent figure of which a lot of the events and themes in the game draw inspiration from, dante’s inferno and the other ones that no one can be bothered to google for their game review.
Dante’s inferno is also a game now but it wasn’t when it was published by dante (writing man and protagonist ;) ) back in along time ago. Weirdly enough i’m not going to talk about the game because i haven’t played it and therefore can’t relate it to alan’s awake, FUN! Anyway the game has you fight shadows that possess the townsfolk at night and you shine a light to get rid of the shadows, just like in real life, and then shoot them with a gun, killing the townsfolk in an act of cold hearted murder, this part shouldn’t happen in real life and sets an unrealistic standards for ones exchanges with neighbours. Normally they just say ‘put the light away’ and ‘is that a gun’ i am truly disappointed, FUN!
Anyway the point is that what alan wake did that no one else thought of, other than being post-modern in a videogame (resident evil 2 rip off anyone) was, like a true son of liberty, take shadows and make them the baddies stopping our protagonist from getting on with his whole sale slaughter of a small town, the things we do to get rid of writer's block. I didn’t finish the game it’s been sitting on my steam for 3 years installed and one hour of play from completion, i’m not convinced the goodies will win so i’m not going to find out.
In darksouls if you hollow you don’t cast a shadow, FUN!
wow
ReplyDelete