期刊名称：Cahiers de Narratologie. Analyse et théorie narratives
印刷版ISSN：0993-8516
电子版ISSN：1765-307X
出版年度：2021
卷号：38
DOI：10.4000/narratologie.11716
语种：French
出版社：REVEL
摘要：This paper deals with the narrative characteristics of two American games, Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC) and What Remains of Edith Finch ? (WREF), both released in 2017. Their narrative frames go over and beyond the expectations of their codified genres (respectively, a dating sim and a “walking simulator”). They break the fourth wall several times in the course of the gameplay, all of that for the sake of fear and madness, their main themes. They both present situations where the gaming experience do not follow expectations, thus contributing to the unreliability of these narratives. They also help the expression of strong feelings which are central to these games. Both are niche games, in two different styles. WREF is a game where the player only controls a character in a closed space. This helps putting the story in the forefront, while DDLC borrows from the dating simulation game aesthetics, a subtype of visual novel. It stars four archetypal young women and a protagonist who must seduce the one he likes best. The narrative interpretation of each capsule in WREF, or the manipulation of the gaming experience in DDLC offer a space in which the expectations about the narrative progress are trumped, and this constitutes the main issue of this paper. Games are normally restricted to their screen (contrary to what happens on DDLC), the gamespace is normally standardized on the controller (contrary to what happens in Lewis’ capsule in WREF). Trangressions of the expected also include erasing or replacing characters and settings, as well as overfilling or saturating spaces of the games. After this initial study, I will turn to the intertwining of several discourses, genres, and symbolic objects to further blur the boundaries for the player. Several discourses are inserted in each other, and there are more than one audience: is Edith Finch addressing her son, or the player? How is Monika addressing the player, the protagonist, both on DDLC’s website and in the game? Several narratives are embedded in the gameplay of both games and are represented either by genres (poetry, manga…) or by objects, like the memorials scattered in WREF. These embedded stories further and contribute to the sensitive, violent discourses of these games and question the boundaries of both gaming experience and the existence of the fourth wall.
