DARKFIELD presents ARCADE: but this isn’t an ordinary arcade and these are not ordinary arcade machines. Every machine offers you the chance to enter the world of the game and choose your own unique journey. As you guide your avatar through a world ravaged by endless war, there are many routes you can take and there are many different outcomes. You can choose a side, win or lose the war, search out a more peaceful route, or join a cult promising a better version of reality. Where will your decisions lead you?
Using the nostalgic 8-bit aesthetic of 1980’s video games, ARCADE’s interactive narrative explores the evolving relationship between players and avatars. This choose-your-own-path experience will fully immerse players in alternate environments in a completely dark shipping container, using 360 degree binaural sound and sensory effects. Players will be asked to address deep existential questions about free will and consciousness in a world where some may win and some may lose…
- Player is given a sense of agency, as opposed to most Darkfield experiences, in the form of a singular machine button
- Choosing when to act and play appears to affect the outcome of your game, however reviewers note timing of practical lights and effects gives the impression the experience is controlled
- Use of 4D effects (spray, air, scent etc.)
- Clear moral dimension, themes of war, death and often demands the player makes sudden difficult choices that result in violence or death
This is a collection of taxonomy terms that allow a type of immersive or XR performance to be categorised.