events that are not memorable

I have some spare time and I figured one way to emphasize the importance of "events" in games, especially in regards to the social engagement would be to present a bad game. I have already shown some good games lately so it would be easy to compare.


In games such as DeadSpace one can easily spot the unity between the main character, the enemies and the environment through the aesthetic, that’s not bad of course. The problem is that it just doesn't, change, ever, it applies to every environment you are in. So the game feels like the waiting room in a doctor’s office, it just drags on forever!

image taken from source

The ribbed style is articulated in every environment, in every enemy and is constantly seen on your main character. It’s used to impose a vulnerable feeling the player has on his main character that can easily be torn apart like “spare-ribs.” But it’s used EVERYWHERE! And therefore gets quiet boring. The game does not differentiate between one spaces or another in a meaningful way, your horizon of expectancies is always correct, because you are always in the same type of environment fighting the same type of enemy and therefore the entire game is just one very long event. There is little to no progression.


What’s nice to see is when specific character matches their specific environments; this in turn creates specific events that are much more memorable. Dead Space just seems like one big blur of constant gore and death, and doesn’t create a clear timeline in the player’s head of how long the game took.