KOCHI: Have you ever noticed how moving gears and cogs have this artsy appeal to it? I mean, it is nice to watch the pull of levers than button clicking.
When we play games, we already press buttons on the keyboard with the hope that the action leads to this unexplainable beautiful reaction that is more visually intricate. That is precisely why the design of games like Bioshock and Dishonored have perfected rusted walls and bridges, broken pipes, and 19th Century clothes that have too many buttons... there’s something very mysterious and romantic about these things.
Every game that uses steampunk technology has an undertone of either nuclear annihilation or a disease wiping out the world. Bioshock, Fallout and Dishonored were developed in an alternate future where steam engines rule technology. It gives a sense of hopelessness to the entire universe — everything is dark and dead. Despite the depressing outlook, you can’t help but feverishly finish the game, hoping for the sun to shine again.
There are jump scares aplenty, which pinches you awake every time you turn a corner. Then comes the futuristic fluidity based. The Portal series was one such, with clean steel walls, lights reflecting from every orifice, colourful orange and electric blue hues — but you can’t really fear the lights. That is, until Bethesda released the gameplay trailer of Prey last week.
The horror is the technology itself. With its fluidity, it looks like a typical sci-fi game set in a spaceship with alien abduction. But there’s more to it: the developers describe it as a psychological thriller, with the narrative theme of “Who or what are you” surrounding the character, interspersed with the typical combat.
Set in a free-to-roam environment, the game tracks your choices, which determine the consequences. The aliens embody darkness — they are shadows which morph into any object in sight. With gadgets and alien powers replacing the Steampunk guns and dark forces, the game sounds more like Dishonored: The Space edition. Can this replace the typical Steampunk horror?
(This economics graduate spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)