Postmodernism and Popular Video Games: Interactive Narrative in Inside (2016), Metal Gear Solid (2015), Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (2011), Detroit: Become Human (2018)

The overall aim of this article is to examine whether four selected games can be construed as postmodern narratives by applying theories of game studies, specifically those on interactivity, by benefitting from works of critics such as Wolf, Jenkins and Montfort. Furthermore, we benefited from by the aid of post-modern narrative theories and critics namely, McHale and Baudrillard on the significance of the gamer in progression of the story. For this purpose, four games were examined. These games were chosen since they offer different levels of interactivity and player’s interference with the game world, from the most limited, Inside (Playdead, 2016), where the avatar only moves in a two- dimensional world, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions, 2015), in which the player can customize the character and have more freedom in choosing objectives, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios, 2011), an open world game, to Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream, 2018), where the gamer can choose the fate of the characters and have many different endings. To date, no study has been done on these specific games from a postmodern narrative and interactivity point of view. This study concludes that video games, due to their interactive nature, can be considered post-modern narratives.

Keywords:

video games , postmodernism , interactivity , postmodern , narrative , simulation