Textual Analysis: Week 06

How were game mechanics used to immerse the player into your chosen game's narrative?

The convincing physics of the interactable elements in Amnesia, immerse the player in the narrative very effectively.

To open doors in Amnesia, you click on the handle and drag the cursor down, nearly identical to the method you would use to open doors in real life. The same method goes for closing doors and opening chests and drawers in the game, to a point where even the trajectory and speed of which you move the cursor is reflected in the animation of your interaction. The behavioural mimmicking at play immerses the player in the narrative by making interactions feel like they do outside the diegesis so accurately.

When the player enters the dark they may light up their lantern, which they discover earlier in game, however, like real lanterns, it runs out of gas and this mechanic relies on the player looting through the environments to discover refills to keep it lit. The realistic urgency the game replicates makes the management of the lantern paramount. The versimilitude of this mechanic immerses the player into the narrative through the bridging of this famliarity.

This freedom makes the play feel meaningful for the player as although their interactions don't always necessarily effect the narrative plot, they still effect the game world in a believable way giving a great sense of immersion.
The combination of what appear to be trivial details actually enhance the experience immersing the player through having their agency reflected so accurately to real life and the range of diegetic elements that are interactive also make the players presence very prominent.