EUREKA!
The illusion of control remains INSIDE’s most dedicated thematic irony. Video games often serve as a means of empowering the player, to escape a reality in which social structures define their every move. Playdead’s masterpiece profoundly constitutes the horrors of modern collective ignorance and hierarchical governance within the contexts of a side-scrolling puzzle game, most insidiously inferring that complete freedom means the surrender of Life itself. With each death, of which there are plenty, the player grows more and more weary of failure, serving as a reminder of the oppressive nature of the society from which they most certainly appear to be fleeing. The boy heaves and huffs as he so determinedly runs forward, down an ironically guided path, seeking some form of salvation. INSIDE’s most daring and cynical message seems to imply the impossibility of escape, a message that hauntingly reverberates throughout the entire game, right down to its gut-punching finale.
The illusion of control remains INSIDE’s most dedicated thematic irony. Video games often serve as a means of empowering the player, to escape a reality in which social structures define their every move. Playdead’s masterpiece profoundly constitutes the horrors of modern collective ignorance and hierarchical governance within the contexts of a side-scrolling puzzle game, most insidiously inferring that complete freedom means the surrender of Life itself. With each death, of which there are plenty, the player grows more and more weary of failure, serving as a reminder of the oppressive nature of the society from which they most certainly appear to be fleeing. The boy heaves and huffs as he so determinedly runs forward, down an ironically guided path, seeking some form of salvation. INSIDE’s most daring and cynical message seems to imply the impossibility of escape, a message that hauntingly reverberates throughout the entire game, right down to its gut-punching finale.