Games have long embraced fear as a core experience for players pulling on psychological levers to create suspense and tension. From the rust-encrusted halls of Midwitch Elementary School to the rasping doors of Racoon City PD, we designers love to build creeping dread. And often, we turn to the Gothic for inspiration. We lock you in labyrinthine castles. Corral you through fogbound graveyards. Deserted houses, quarries, villages, where the only sound is the caw of the ravens. We give you mysteries to solve. Relentless supernatural enemies to vanquish. Tell you it is an epic fight of good vs. evil as coiled like a spring, finger itching over the trigger, you’re forced to face off against the lurkers in the shadows. And yet we kill you. Again, and again, and again.
Why? Join Kristen McGorry (self-confessed sadist) for a look at the Gothic influence on video games to find out.
This event is a live, second version of the presentation delivered by Kristen during the physical part of the festival.