Amnesia: The Dark Descent developer Frictional Games has questioned the ability of games to deliver the same emotionally charged narratives as movies.
Studio co-founder Thomas Grip thinks the jump from gameplay to narrative have too much of an affect on emotion, distancing games from movies.
“There is a big difference in our relationship to a protagonist when you are a passive observer compared to playing as that character,” he argued.
“I think the jump to a cutscene removes much of the empathy that you might have in a movie. Because of this, I believe games can never become as emotionally powerful as movies, even if the cutscenes are done exactly like film.”
The only hope for the medium? To explore different techniques that present narrative that evoke emotion.
“There needs to be videogames that provide the same sort of experiences for the medium as Schindler’s List, The Shawshank Redemption, etc. do for movies. Right now, we are simply not seeing these sorts of games, and while I am unsure we will see any big-budget titles with this kind of focus anytime soon, I do hope so.”
Source: Gamasutra
Do you agree with Grip's sentiments? Can a video game be as emotional as the most emotionally charged movies?
By Gaetano Prestia