Sunday Thoughts: Isolation
Do you want to feel alone?
Published: 17:15, 28/08/2011 by Kris [Halbpro].
11Isolation, in the real world, isn’t always all that scary. That’s not to say it can’t be, walking alone down a dark alley is often terrifying; but to me being isolated is far more depressing than it is terrifying. That feeling of utter despair, being completely alone in the world, is one that many of us are obviously familiar with, and one that can be completely overwhelming. For me it’s a feeling that few games ever capture, perhaps because, even with the best suspension of disbelief in the world, we know that we’re not really alone, not really as isolated as the game wants us to believe we are.
This is why, for me, games like Resident Evil or Dead Space can only give you the feeling of fear that comes from being alone, the feeling of being prey and having predators surround you. It’s a feeling that any good survival horror will manage to capitalise on, and one of the most primal feelings possible. Whilst there are still dangers in the world, they’re rarely in a predator/prey relationship unless someone’s mugging you. No, these feelings date back to lions attempting to eat us, and come from the deep bit of your brain that says “Hey! You don’t want to be eaten! Run for it!”
The feeling of being prey is a big element of Dead Space
We all know that feeling when it does, when your heart starts racing and won’t stop, when you can’t turn the lights off and every little sound in your house sets you off. Those rare moments when a game manages to defy our perceptions of reality, drill all the way down and make us feel completely terrified and alone. For me some of those moments came from a series you probably wouldn’t be expecting me to mention; Halo.
Well ok, those of you who’ve read pretty much anything I’ve written before might have been expecting me to mention Halo, it has a tendency to come up. However, there’s a good reason here. I will admit that I had very little love for Halo 3: ODST. It didn’t really feel like a Halo game, mostly because you weren’t playing as a superhuman Spartan-II.
Whilst that might have stopped it from feeling like a typical Halo game, it did make you feel incredibly fragile. Bungie pushed this further by having you utterly alone for huge chunks of the game. When this happened with Master Chief it was of little concern, you knew you could easily survive almost anything the game could throw at you; when you’re playing as the Rookie (seriously, that’s his name) in ODST almost anything you saw could kill you in a few moments. The feeling of being alone and overwhelmed was almost tangible and one of the few things I actually enjoyed about the game. Even then it made me scared, but not depressed. There was no feeling of despair.
Perhaps it’s a good thing this isn’t in games, do we want to play things that make us feel like that? When entertainment frequently consists of escapism we don’t necessarily want to fall into a world where we feel like the ground is swallowing us.
On the other hand if gaming is to evolve into a more mature medium maybe we need games that make us feel like that.
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28/08/2011 at 17:30
Member since: Mar 2011
Not played Halo, would like to but don’t have a 360. :( I didn’t think Dead Space was that solitary, you’re alone, but theres always people shouting at you and monsters. Amnesia: the Dark Descent, was very solitary, and although I only played the demo on steam, it was utterly petrifying. Seriously, stay away from the water. Also, it had some fantastic gameplay mechanics in it. I also sometimes feel quite alone when playing portal, and shadow of the colossus, In Portal (1) there’s no other characters to interact, just a voice and tasks, its odd, similarly in SOTC, with both providing a huge sense of atmosphere and loneliness in my opinion.
28/08/2011 at 19:34
Member since: Apr 2010
Amnesia scared the living piss out of me. Play it in a dark room with headphones and prepare to be terrified.
28/08/2011 at 21:25
Member since: Mar 2011
No, just no! lol
28/08/2011 at 17:48
Member since: Jul 2009
Great read, thanks! :)
28/08/2011 at 17:54
Member since: Jun 2009
Ico and SotC immediately spring to mind, but probably the loneliest game I’ve played is single-player Minecraft. The feeling of isolation, being stranded alone in a vast world, is almost overwhelming, especially when you first play it.
28/08/2011 at 18:12
Member since: May 2010
Can’t really think of any games which have given me this feeling. With Dead Space 2 it wasn’t really isolation as you were never alone, there’s always a chance of a necromorph dwindling in the dark so it’s more a feeling of tension and of course horror. However, isolation is present as it is really you versus everything.
28/08/2011 at 18:23
Member since: Feb 2011
I imagine you’d feel pretty isolated playing Be a pro as Robin Van Persie!
28/08/2011 at 18:38
Member since: Apr 2009
Not as much as Szceszney, although you might find the game too hard…
28/08/2011 at 19:06
Member since: May 2010
Brilliant :D haha
29/08/2011 at 12:48
Member since: Jul 2009
I’d 8-2 play as an Arsenal player on Fifa 12…
28/08/2011 at 18:20
Member since: Aug 2011
I agree. There’s been games that’ve scared me, made me laugh and just made me shout “That was amazing!” but there’s never really been a time I’ve felt lonely. I guess I could say I felt alone in Dead Space 2, as far as humans go, but not really in any other game I have.
28/08/2011 at 18:59
Member since: Apr 2009
Silent Hill often feels lonely.
Horror and fear are often more prevalent though.
28/08/2011 at 19:25
Member since: Nov 2009
Demon’s Souls did it better imo.
Vulnerable, alone and positively bricking it for nearly every step.
Then when someone does join/invade you, they want to kill you too!
28/08/2011 at 19:33
Member since: May 2010
that is a good call! Very isolated, especially in world 3-1 and 3-2, the pitch black and those squid faced wardens. It felt a lonely and desolate place
28/08/2011 at 19:28
Member since: Apr 2010
To feel lonely, you have to have a sense of loss, a craving for something or someone. The game would have to attach you to something first, then take it away and leave you alone. Simply isolating you, without anything to long for, would risk causing boredom or apathy.
28/08/2011 at 19:30
Member since: Apr 2010
*I missed my actual point, I imagine that is why most games tend to use isolation for fear, rather than emotional response.
28/08/2011 at 19:32
Member since: Aug 2009
Would Journey relate in this aspect?
I never got to try the beta so I’m unsure it really relates to the article apart from what I’ve read.
28/08/2011 at 21:44
Member since: Aug 2011
I don’t have the beta either, but, going by news articles etc, I’d say yes, it is all about you being a small and insignificant character in a massive landscape
28/08/2011 at 23:38
Member since: Dec 2008
I’m feeling very isolated from tsa, but I am 12600 kilometres away from you lot.
28/08/2011 at 23:47
Member since: Jul 2009
But we sent you there.