In comparison, Benet, focused on the protagonist's journey, leaves many questions about the story’s society up to readers' imaginations. Horizon Zero Dawn, for example, spends hours on world-building before the protagonist, Aloy, begins her quest. The answer exists within the games that have successfully adapted famous literature.
#I have no mouth and i must scream am glados series#
The influential Half-Life series would not exist without the creativity of science fiction author Marc Laidlaw.Īs video games continue to take water from the literary well, one must consider an important question: what makes a good video game adaptation of literary source material? Additionally, well-known writers have made the transition to developing video games. From Halo to Mass Effect, video games have spawned dozens of tie-in novels. When it comes to video games and literature, inspiration is a two-way street. Playing Valve's Portal series of video games, it is impossible not to spot the similarities. He is doomed to an eternity of AM's torture. Harlan Ellison's 1967 short story, " I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," ends with the last human on Earth under the control of the sadistic Allied Mastercomputer (AM).
Other references to literature in video games are not explicitly stated by their creators but are crystal clear, nonetheless. Bioshock director Ken Levine cities Atlas Shrugged's John Galt as the basis for Andrew Ryan. Horizon Zero Dawn is hardly the first video game to gain inspiration from the literary canon. It is the video game equivalent of a literary hook. The experience, in addition to teaching the game's control system, introduces the player to the story's greater mystery. Early on in Horizon Zero Dawn, the player takes a young Aloy through a long-abandoned research facility. As Ellen dies, Ted hopes that the ambiguous expression on her face is one of gratitude, suggesting that he did care about Ellen on some level despite his disrespectful treatment of her.One motif shared by both Horizon Zero Dawn and "By the Waters of Babylon" is exploration of the 'dead places' to understand the old world.
This gives Ted the idea to compassionately kill the others so that they can finally escape their tortured existence-picking up on the plan, Ellen kills Nimdok as Ted kills the others and then her. Upon finally reaching the ice caverns, the starving group cannot access the canned food that AM has presented them with, so Benny cannibalizes Gorrister. However, since the story is told through Ted’s cynical and deeply misogynistic perspective, he belittles Ellen’s positive characteristics and instead perceives her merely as a sex object, thinking of her as “scum filth” and a “slut” who lies about having been a virgin before AM. She is also notably more optimistic than the others, constantly visualizing the delicious fruit that could await them in the caverns. Ellen is highly empathetic and often shows maternal care and concern for her companions. Although they are protective of her, carrying her in their arms and shielding her from danger as the group of five make the journey to the ice caverns within AM, she is also expected to fulfill the sexual whims of all four men and is subjected to their emotional and physical abuse. As the only female character trapped inside AM along with Ted, Benny, Gorrister, and Nimdok, Ellen is at once revered and objectified by the four men who share her fate.
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