I came across the news that the sales of George Orwell’s 1984 is now booming. That’s just one wrong step away from a majority of the first-world millennials descending collectively into nihilism. So let’s all turn to videogames, the sole voice of reason, the ray of light in the presumably gloomy future.
I mean, videogames do have their share of melancholy through the psychological and survival horror genre. Resident Evil 7 which released this month left many of us sleepless for days. It had the perfect blend of disgusting monsters with creepy dialogues and the right amount of jump scares. Although the prospects seem as bleak as the thoughts of a nihilist (because you are stuck in a dark, abandoned mansion with limited ammunition) - there is still this small trickle adrenaline that creates hope.
Because you know that no developer would make a game that is unwinnable — which means you can get through this and come out a braver person, however shaken and disturbed. If you are not up to playing Resident Evil, I recommend watching playthroughs with commentary on Youtube for a good laugh.
Getting back to dystopia and gloom, Francis Ford Coppola has announced that he wants to convert the classic movie Apocalypse Now (1979) which was based on the Vietnam war into a psychological horror video game. ‘War games’ immediately makes us think of the next Call of Duty installment, but the Coppola’s Kickstarter Campaign tells us otherwise. The protagonist is an assassin, but ‘combat is often your last resort’, it says. The narrative, dialogues and decisions guide the game, and there is to be a lot of tactical decision making involved. The inherently good story of the movie is all set to give birth to another amazing videogame.
The Japanese psych-horror ‘Omori’, which resembles a yester-year hit Earthbound full with 8-bit graphics, is also in the works. The soundtrack and trailer for Omori, which are on Kickstarter are very reminiscent of the ‘90s games. These games in what I call the ‘Horror for Hope’ genre, can add to the imaginative experience of the dismal dystopia of 1984.
(This economics graduate spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)
Anusha Ganapathi
@quaffle_waffle