Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This extended abstract presents a work in progress that aims to study Chilean horror videogames.Its objectives are to establish if and how these games develop the transculturation process, and if there are elements or repeated motifs that could be considered uniquely Chilean about them.In order to do so, an abridged state of Chilean horror games will be presented.Secondly, the concept of transculturation will be briefly explained, as well as some of the approaches taken by Latin American videogames.A third approach, based on studies of Japanese horror games, will be proposed.Then, a few elements of Chilean horror literature will be discussed, to establish a few of the motifs that are expected to be found.The Chilean videogame industry is, in comparison with other countries, relatively small, and if we delve more specifically into horror it becomes even smaller.However, some of its titles have gathered some level of recognition.For example, Tormented Souls (Dual Effect, 2021), a fixed-camera horror game inspired by the likes of Silent Hill, has gained a following online and has recently announced that there is a sequel in the making.Or the lesser-known The Signifier (PlayMeStudio, 2020), a fairly experimental game about a psychologist that goes into a dead woman's memories to solve her death, which has nonetheless garnered enough attention to have PlayMeStudio partner with Blumhouse Games to develop The Simulation (PlayMeStudio, TBA), a game about a developer that is given a horror game in a murder scene to analyze how it's connected.There is also some interesting projects that are being developed, such as Curilemu (Austral Games, TBA), which is based on Chilote mythology.Overall, despite its small size, it is possible to see that the Chilean horror game industry is one brimming with potential and worth being studied.As mentioned earlier, one of the key concepts for this study will be that of transculturation.When discussing this process, it is important to recognize it as one among many concepts for discussing cultural contact, including postcolonialism, multiculturalism and others (Kuortti and Falk, 2015, p. xii).However, what
Author: Val Caroca Escauriaza
Institution: Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Language: English
Topic: Digital Games and Media
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4411974018