Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Survival Horror: The Pinnacle of Videogame Narrative

The thought provoking article "Is it Art?" from the London Book Review by John Lanchester got the wheels turning in my brain regarding the importance of the Survival Horror genre to the idea of Videogame Narrative. Why is this you ask? Because few other genres in videogaming have the potential to convey so much story without resorting to lengthy cutscenes or conveniently abandoned narrative devices (literal devices, scattered around the environment and everything).

One of the reasons is that in Survival Horror, you can manipulate the environment itself into a brilliant narrative device. Every creature, every set piece, every message written in blood on the wall can help to convey a feeling, an emotion and a sense of story. Look at the pinnacle of the genre, Silent Hill 2, everything in that game is deeply rooted in protagonist James Sunderland's psyche, from the horrifying Pyramid Head to the Horrible Sexy Nurses to the vile straight jacketed things. They all serve a narrative purpose and all relate to the horrible revelations that drive James's quest into this dark place.

Similarly does Resident Evil 4 convey many "narrative" aspects through gameplay and environment. When we shoot our first mutated Spanish villager in the face only to have him glare at us angrily, it's clear we aren't dealing with ordinary rural hillbillies here, these are monsters. And later when you arrive at the shotgun wielding, head exploding phase, the villagers will suddenly sprout horrific doom appendages which will slice and dice you, leading to more questions and even a few answers.

Granted both Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2 still often rely on cutscenes, but there is narrative outside of that, in the enemy design and environmental characteristics. I eagerly await the day when you'll be able to accomplish an entire narrative (except the "ending" and "epilogue" bits) without resorting to the movie like, medium breaking cutscenes that hurt the idea of "games" as a unique art form.

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