MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Despite rigidly defined core mechanics and simple gameplay loops, the video games Her Story (Sam Barlow, 2015) and Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope, 3909 LLC, 2018) use the illusion of total player agency to scaffold mystery narratives built through careful release of contextual information. In Her Story, the player assumes the role of an amateur detective piecing together the events surrounding a murder using only an archaic video-retrieval system modeled after late-1990s database technology. Similarly, Return of the Obra Dinn casts the player as an insurance agent investigating the disappearance of the crew of the titular ship. Both games restrict player agency—by way of a cumbersome keyword search function and non-interactive static scenes, respectively—in service of narrative uncertainty. Paradoxically, by limiting what the player is allowed to do within the gamespace, the narratives expand beyond their digital confines to actively encourage metanarrative decision-making. This paper will explore the role of closed gameplay systems (ones in which available player actions are explicitly limited by the designer) and the subsequent creation of open narrative structures (in which the player creates narrative resolution rather than the designer). Furthermore, this paper will consider player agency in relation to both the mechanical systems of gameplay as well as the construction of narrative form and content through choices made both within and outside of the established gamespace.