There is a close connection between freedom, isolation and landscape. Recently I attended a seminar by Eibhear Walshe titled “Elizabeth Bowens and the Landscapes of Loss.” For Elizabeth Bowen, the landscape that she found herself in was deeply reflected in her work. She spent a period focused on Augustus’ wife Livia, who spent her life trapped in her Villa ad Gallinas Albas for protection. Here her only freedom was a painted garden in a basement. I began to think about freedom and space within SOMA and Shadow of the Colossus, two very different games that centre on isolation and freedom, or the lack there of.
SOMA (2015) traps the player underwater and makes the player fear other life forms. The game mostly consists of Simon (the protagonist) searching though Pathos II looking a way to escape and reach an idyllic haven called the ARK. the main menu of the game starts with a normal picture of Simon’s face. As the game progresses the face separates into an unrecognisable image. Sometimes he interacts with probably the only one truly sane person/A.I Catherine, who may or may not be capable of creative thought. Of course Simon is the same, is he truly alive or just a copy of an original Simon from Toronto. Simon only meets hostile corrupted humans and robots or unresponsive distorted bodies. He feels distressed at the thought of not existing. He lashes out, fears isolation and desperately searches to escape his underwater prison. Like Livia who felt trapped in her Roman Villa, Simon is trapped in Pathos II.
SOMA pushes the idea of isolation by trapping you in an underwater environment. When traversing the dark expanse between liveable structures, you can meet hostile sentient robots who appear to have gone insane due to their own isolation. The environments range from open underwater areas that are filled with corrupted wildlife to tight corridors. Both of these environments treat the player to different kinds of isolation. The game relies on fear as former humans and robots will hunt the player down in both areas.
Livia is described by Tacitus and Cassius as an interfering and domineering women who caused her son Emperor Tiberius to flee to Capri to be away from her. Simon has the choice to interfere with the A.I that are left in Pathos II. He can choose to kill them so that there won’t any copies of a person or leave them in ignorance until their batteries run out. Neither find a way out of their isolation as Livia died in AD22 at her Villa and Simon waited out his existence in darkness alone.
As a young girl Bowen was exiled to Kent after her father fell ill. Bowen’s first drastic change of landscape was associated with loss and exile. Similarly Wander in Shadow of the Colossus (2005) abandons his home to personal exile in the Forbidden Lands due to the sacrifice of a young woman (Mono). The game is completely open for the player to explore. There are no load screens between areas and the map is vast. However this game has a different sense of isolation. There are no characters to interact with. Wander travels from place to place at the command of a disembodied dubious deity with orders to kill mostly benign colossi. When he returns to the temple he can only look at the dead body of the girl he hopes to resurrect while he becomes more and more corrupt. The only interaction Wander has is with his horse Argo who he watches ‘die’ before his final battle. Bowen died in hospital no longer isolated like she had been in her youth. In comparison Wander is consumed by corruption completely alone, as he thinks his horse is dead and that Mono was never resurrected.
The fear of isolation is a common human feeling. Bowen’s period of change and loneliness influenced her work. However no work of fiction or film can force the audience to feel isolation like a game can. You become attached and invested in your character. In SOMA, Simon’s volatile reactions and the crushing lifelessness of Pathos II indicate the horror and eventual dread that comes with the games ending. In Shadow of the Colossus, Wander is explicitly told that the price he will pay will ‘be heavy.’ Wander commits himself to corruption, isolation and agony to resurrect Mono. In the end humans seek to curb loneliness and isolation. However many times in games, one can only watch as characters destroy their hope and generally sprint towards a tragic end.
Work Cited:
Cassius Dio. “Vol. VIIp111 Book LVII.” Cassius Dio. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.
Shadow of the Colossus. Sony Computer Entertainment. 2005. Video game.
SOMA. Frictional Games. 2015. Video game.
Tacitus. “Book IV (end).” LacusCurtius • Tacitus, Annals. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.
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