The Game Tourist Episode 8: The Wanderer of the Wasteland and Bringer of Utopia

Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studies, 2015) involves the game tourist in a post-apocalyptic dystopian gameworld and in a multifarious experience of play and video game photography. It is a venture that is both terrifying and intriguing, perilous yet pleasurable. And confronts players with the utopian beauty of the environment and the regenerative appeal of a…

The Game Tourist Episode 6: Hellblade and Senua’s descent into darkness

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory, 2019) grants players access to the nightmarish visions of Senua, a Pict warrior who embarks of the journey of a heroine to cleanse her inner demons. Senua suffers from psychosis, a mental illness that developed in her childhood with the loss of her mother, Galena, (a trauma she has ever since…

The Game Tourist E02: Enter the Metro

Metro 2033 (4A Games, 2011) is a nightmarish vision of a nuclear future to come as it is a depiction of humankind’s inability to evolve past vital shortcomings. The game involves players in a conflict between ideologies and several factions (the Reds, the Nazis, and so on) and asks the question how ethical can one…

The Game Tourist E01: The Magical Ascent of Journey

The game tourist of Journey (Thatgamecompany 2012, 2015) comes to visit an extraordinary, magical world that is permeated by vibrant colours and alluring vistas. To travel this world not only means to participate in a plot scenario that has the player (and the unnamed character) move the way of life towards a final goal but also…

Video Game Tourism E05: Rise of the Tomb Raider’s astounding beauty

Having played Uncharted 4 (Naughty Dog, 2016), it is hard to dive into an action-adventure game without expecting too much from it. But Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics, 2016), surprisingly, gets the job done—though with a different focus. The game involves the player in the role of Lara Croft venturing on a most…