Playing Gone Home this week and discussing other “walking simulator” games such as Dear Esther has kept me thinking about the role of embedded narratives in horror games. I’d specifically like to think about narrative in a game like Amnesia, which feels very similar to Gone Home in terms of mechanics, but obviously differs greatly in its goal and overall narrative.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror game that was originally released in 2010 that quickly became a popular horror game, enough to be labeled as a classic. There exists countless Let’s Play videos on Youtube of Amnesia playthroughs, including custom levels/stories. For those who haven’t played, the game drops you in a dark and dank castle where you must navigate through this space and collect notes and items to figure out what this place is and why you’re here. Similar to Gone Home, the player is given a small contextual exposition, but is generally left to figure out the story themselves.
I’d say this game is similar to “walking simulators” in its embedded narrative and the simplified mechanics. You move around the space using WASD or arrow keys, you pick up items with the right-mouse click, and you turn on or off your lantern with the ‘f’ key. The players main goals are to investigate the castle by finding items and ways to overcome obstacles (these mainly being physical obstacles like locked doors or otherwise obstructed paths, but the player’s sanity levels do impede your progress as well) and to not die. Yes, it’s a survival horror game, but it’s focus is more on interacting with the space around you, either to learn more about the overarching narrative, to solve puzzles, or to hide.
“To continue with the detective example, then, one can imagine the game designer as developing two kinds of narratives--one relatively unstructured and controlled by the player as they explore the game space and unlock its secrets; the other pre-structured but embedded within the mise-en-scene awaiting discovery. The game world becomes a kind of information space, a memory palace” (Jenkins, 9)
In this sense, there are two narratives within Amnesia, the narrative you have to witness in order to progress and the narrative you choose to experience in the space around you. The game paces these two narratives with the aspect of horror. While in the beginning of the game, you are relatively safe and encouraged to explore your environment, the more narrative you experience, the more danger you are introduced to. The player can be prevented from investigating the embedded narratives surrounding them because the game environment is terrifying and there are monsters you have to run and hide from. The overarching story is given to the player, but the player must make an effort to experience the supporting, hidden stories all around the castle.
Amnesia presumably refers to the fact that the main character Daniel has purposefully forgotten almost everything. All that Daniel remembers is his name, where he lives, and that “something is hunting him.” Making the character themselves have amnesia, the player can then relate better to him with their own sense of disorientation. There are also moments in the game when the space around you triggers memories, and you are then placed in that memory, able to experience the past in a way. With these visions and the information hiding all around you in desk drawers or nightstands, the space Amnesia creates is very much a “memory palace.”
Gone Home is similar in that it encourages you to explore within a disconcerting ambience (the thunder booming throughout the house, the dark and hidden passages, the distant sounds of TV static or the radio), but it removes any actual threat to the player. I feel like the aspect of fear in horror games with deep, embedded narratives inherently challenge the player’s desire to discover the “truth” of the game. This too comes into play in Save the Date as the player is punished for continuing to explore the game. I can’t decide if horror games are encouraging the player to work through their fear to investigate diligently, or to discard this desire and focus on survival. The presence of internet game guides and Wiki summaries obviously complicates these two poles, as you don't need to risk Daniel's life (any more than you have to generally) to learn more about the game's embedded narratives since you can read about it online. Perhaps the "reward" the player gets by being a thorough detective is in the player's own sense of accomplishment; overcoming the challenge is the reward.
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"Game Design as Narrative Architecture" by Henry Jenkins. 2005.