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Aug 29th, 2018 at 00:48:17 - Little Nightmares (PC) |
Little Nightmares is a very interesting game to me. I see a lot of influence brought in from other titles--American Horror Story for one-- but definitely takes its own spin on horror, character presentation, and narrative. I note that its character presentation, not development, as the main character doesn’t seem to change or grow all that much throughout the game. This is important because this tells something further about the game being played and the characters in the world. One thing I think the game reflects from our in-class lectures is that it offers a meta-commentary on some political issues, and mainly the politics of childhood. I can’t say if I’m reading too much into the game, but seeing a girl thrown and abandoned, having to fend for herself in a dark and terrifying place, in places where she’s not supposed to be, being chased by a janitor!? Sounds too much like school to not read into it. The death and visually disturbing aspects of the game could have lots of significance to other aspects of childhood, whether it be child trafficking, abuse, etc. It makes me a lot more invested in Six while keeping these things in mind while playing the game.
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Aug 26th, 2018 at 17:23:14 - Donkey Kong Country (SNES) |
One of my favorite games of all time is Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. Growing up my dad and I have played all the retro games and this is the one that stuck most with me because of its music, gameplay, and non-apparent narrative.
The game doesn’t have a narrative in a very "narrated" sense, but it’s hidden through the character's journey, their body movements, and other indicators throughout the levels. However, the games narrative itself isn’t all that difficult to pick apart to begin with— an ape and his monkey nephew go take their huge bananas back from a pirate king— basically killing and ravaging through lands to do so. Morally speaking all parties are at an egregious fault, but I though it would be interesting to talk about the narrative from a metaphorical standpoint about people who at the same ends do something to avenge the means by which they’ve been encouraged to act. That being said, the choices the players are encountered with are very interesting mechanically.
Sometimes the player is free to not kill or knock out the enemies in their way, but at the same time it’s so much easier and rewarding at times to do so. I feel this can speak to many instances in the gaming and real world where people take the more rewarding route despite their morally-fragile nature. The way this is resolved isn’t really implemented in the game, as it is an action platformer where jumping on things deemed as enemies is the main mechanic to reach a goal. Because of this, and the fact that the game was made in the early 90’s without much philosophical or narrative thought, its hard to say what values are trying to be conveyed. But, this is why I thought it would be interesting, and funny even, to read into a game that maybe has nothing to read into, and that’s the fun part of it.
I always have a blast and have tried to play the game in different ways to create a different experience— playing the game hitting all the enemies I can, taking a pacifist mode (impossible in this game btw), and have even learned to speed run it. This game offers a lot to both how games can be played as well as what we can take out of it. One just has to know what to look for.
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SageSeversonEAE3020's GameLogs |
SageSeversonEAE3020 has been with GameLog for 6 years, 2 months, and 26 days |
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