The Evil Within 2- Video Games As Art

The Evil Within was an intense and exhilarating survival horror video game which was released 3 years ago. The game by legendary game director Shinji Mikami wasn't without its faults but as a whole it was a fun experience and was artistically pleasing. The game cast you as protagonist Sebastian Castellanos, a ex-cop who was pulled through a distorted world full of nightmarish locations and horrid creatures. This sequel finds Castellanos trapped in an otherworldly American every-town of Union that exists on an alternate reality only accessible through a matrix-type machine. So far so video gamey. But what sets the game apart is the artistic stylings of the game as the antagonist is a wannabe artist who creates art installation from hell. Walls adorned with close up pictures of eyeballs, beautiful waif like figures contorted in strange ways whilst covered in barbed wire and bodies projecting spectacular showers of blood. The game is disturbing and well deserving of its 18 age rating but the art style is often spectacular and twisted, like the television series Hannibal. The Evil Within 2 is a striking game and well worth a look.

The video game is an 18 rated game and so some of the images may be unsuitable for those under the age.

The Beauty of 'Walking Simulators'

The term 'walking simulator' is used to describe a genre of games where a person is asked to explore a setting but there are little to no action buttons to press. As a result many gamers speak of 'Walking Simulators'  in a derogotory way claiming that they are not in fact games. It may seem like semantics but how we label the genre implies that all you do is walk from one side to the other in a guided tour fashion. However there is more to these types of games which I will discuss below.

Walking simulators have gone through a bit of a journey themselves, gaining prominence with Dear Esther and Proteus, which initiated the debate on whether they were games or not. The games did well, but some people asked for a refund from Steam, an online gaming marketplace, claiming there was nothing to do and that these were not games.

In these games Ludonarrative is told by journeying through the world and finding elements of the story rather than through traditional storytelling narrative and the players input is often minimal. However I find that they are incredible experiences that reward exploration and discovery to understand the bigger narrative. Often by finding diary entries, audio files and environmental clues you get to understand the mystery box structure of the narrative, told slowly and carefully through the game.

This genres provides immersive worlds to engage and interact with. In the same way that art has many different forms so do computer games. I recently played through The Evil Within and Wolfenstein: The New Blood and whilst I loved those games sometimes it is great to try something more cerebral and emotional. All are games and all deserve their place in the video games landscape- maybe we can reclaim the name 'walking simulator' and turn it into a positive but I prefer the term "Environmental exploration games."

For those who crave action 'walking simulators' may seem a little boring, but for people open to what a game can be and achieve everyone should experience at least one walking simulator. I have just finished playing The Chinese Rooms Everybody's Gone To The Rapture. This game is a stunning example of how an interactive narrative can deliver an emotional pay-off like no other medium.

I won't spoil it for people who haven't played it but the game sets you in an English village where some catastrophe has occurred and you are the lone survivor. You spend the 4 or so hours of the game exploring the village finding orbs of light that relay events which occurred in the village, like a voyeur. It feels almost like survivors remorse in that you hear peoples pains, anguish and worries. There are some profound moments in the game that will stick with me forever, more deeply embedded than some forms of media because I was the active agent that made these things occur. The way the narrative is presented eschews the typical linear chronological route and instead you have to piece things together, like a David Mitchell novel almost, that is quite an achievement.

'Walking simulators' are a wonderful genre of video games and they encourage us to immerse ourselves in new worlds and scenarios. They are rather passive and sometimes that is what I look for in gaming, its a bit of a change from the norm. A palate cleanser if you will.

Time Flies When Gaming

Time flies in gaming, Tempus Fugit for those in the know with a little Latin (or who have seen that X Files episode). The concept is an old one of losing track of time, like when you are 'lost in a good book' or 'losing track of time'. We've all done it, been in a moment and enjoyed it only to realise that what only seemed like a few minutes has actually been several hours. Simon Parkin has labelled this 'chronoslip' in a fascinating article (linked below) and it got me thinking about my gaming habits and those of the current generation.

As a teacher who recently become a father, time is a premium. I have put aside the 6 week holidays as a chance to catch up on my gaming pile of shame, games that I have bought with the intention of completing but have yet to play . I've got Assassins Creed Black Flag, The Evil Within, Alien Isolation and about another 15 games, all of which I bought months and even years ago but haven't had a chance to play. I started off my 6 weeks by playing The Evil Within, a game by Shinji Mikami, creator of the seminal Resident Evil 4.

There is plenty of tension and gore in The Evil Within

For 5 nights I played the game whilst my wife and baby were asleep, which was usually from around 9:30pm. I really got into the game and loved the mood that it has created, playing with the lights off. On my 3rd day I made good progress completing 5 levels but looked at the time and it was 1:45 am!  Whilst I had been playing it didn't seem like much time had passed let alone 4 hours.

The atmosphere created is amazing, it really gets under your skin

Everyone knows that games are addictive and sometimes you need a lot of self control to turn the machine off. Nintendo recognised this with the reminder set every 45 mins into the Wii, an image of an open window with fluttering curtains enticing you outside. At the time of playing games on the Wii I'd always quickly skip past it, finding it an annoyance and continuing on but now I'm a lot more aware of chronoslip.

In my youth spending 4/5 hours gaming was not a problem, in fact I'd occasionally pull all-nighters with my friends, getting our University work done during the afternoon and playing classic games like Mario Kart until the next day. These 12/ 13 hour binges were fine back then but now I have priorities so 4/5 hours of my time is a big deal.

 The reason I'm writing this article is because I was reading about gaming related deaths, y'know, the ones you hear about occasionally in the media and normally from South East Asia where someone has died whilst gaming due to not eating or going to the toilet for 3 days etc.

I'm not that hardcore anymore due to time and family constraints but it does get you thinking that with the addictive nature of gaming and MMO games which you could potentially play forever, does something need to be done to promote healthy gaming?

In South Korea they have passed the 'Cinderella Law' which prohibits people under the age of 18 from being in an internet cafe after midnight (internet cafes being the way most people in South Korea play games due to the fact it is cheap and convenient). In England I worry about how much time the children I teach spend playing video games. Don't get me wrong, when I was their age I spent hours and hours playing video games but I also went outside a lot to the park and hung out with my friends, going to the cinema, playing on our bikes etc. As society becomes more afraid of letting their children play outside are we going to have a generation of unfit children who succumb to chronoslip? Time will tell... As for me I'm off to plough more hours into Dark Souls, only 8 hours in and I've barely made progress.

LINK- Simon Parkin's Article 'The Sometimes Fatal Attraction of Video Games'