![]() ![]() In this article, I discuss the way Hellblade has been praised and critiqued for its use of mental illness as a mechanic in order to compare it to The Cat Lady and Fran Bow. The Cat Lady (2012) and Fran Bow (2015) are two independent psychological horror adventure games which articulate the tensions and connections between perceived madness, psychosis, and seeing hidden truths. He identifies Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017) as a game which better enfolds mental illness into its narrative, although it has been critiqued by others for invalidating real experiences of mental illness and merely using psychosis as a plot device (Faulkner, 2017 Lacina, 2017 Scaife, 2017).Īlthough Hellblade has been both applauded and critiqued for this supposedly novel approach, there are earlier games which also used psychosis as an in-game mechanic without resorting to sanity metres. For example, Aaron Souppouris ( 2015) points out that many games which include mental illness as a mechanic problematically attempt to quantify “sanity” or “insanity” with metres, as in Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (2002) and Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010). This is a difficult approach to take and can lead to mixed results. Other than being a “motivation” for villainy, madness and mental illnesses are sometimes used in games as a mechanic or affordance which influences the gameplay experience. Some famous examples are Kefka ( Final Fantasy VI, 1994), SHODAN ( System Shock, 1994 System Shock 2, 1999), Sephiroth ( Final Fantasy VII, 1997), Chai ( Shenmue, 1999), Dahlia ( Silent Hill, 1999), Sander Cohen ( BioShock, 2007), GLaDOS ( Portal, 2007 Portal 2, 2011), The Joker ( Batman: Arkham series, 2009-2013), Vaas ( Far Cry 3, 2012), and Pagan Min ( Far Cry 4, 2014).īeyond generally being inaccurate representations of mental illness, these villains underscore the offensive and dangerous association of madness with violence which prevails in Western culture. Many video games feature violent villains who cackle maniacally display extreme mood swings have severe identity crises and mental breakdowns are delusional or psychotic display sociopathic, narcissistic, or psychopathic behaviours or are simply described within the game using ableist language such as “crazy,” “unhinged,” “deranged,” “criminally insane,” etc. That “interior perversion” in games is usually evilness obsession with revenge or power or the desire to destroy the world or spread chaos. ![]() As Edmond Chang (2017) observes in his discussion of queerness, madness, and BioShock, “insanity has been stereotypically used as an outward manifestation of an interior perversion” (p. Although inclusivity is important, connecting madness (among other marginalized identity markers, such as gender deviance, queerness, and femininity) with villainy only serves to further alienate and demonize those who identify as mad or have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Video games, particularly role-playing games, have addressed madness in various ways since their inception, though usually in the form of villains and antagonists whose sole motivation for their evil deeds is their madness. Her research focuses on race and gender representation in video games and other media, with particular interest in monstrosity, hybridity, abjection, and otherness. Sarah Stang is a PhD student in the Communication and Culture program at York University in Toronto, Ontario.
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