Gothic in Games

An exploration of the Gothic in games

Welcome to the Argue the Toss Halloween special, in which Drew & Chella have a visitation from two dread guests. Experts in terror and the sublime, Sheffield Gothic academics, from the University of Sheffield, Lauren Nixon and Emily Marlow drop in to discuss the Gothic in games.

We talk about the origins of Gothic and the key aspects that define it, touching on everything from Ann Radcliff to The Vampire Diaries and Final Fantasy XV. This episode also looks at developments in diaspora Gothic, which takes the genre out of the white, European realm.

And finally, Emily and Lauren give us the six games that are the most Gothic ever. Well, they didn’t put it quite like that, but they are almost certainly not the games you just thought of when you considered Gothic in games. Hint: none of them are Dark Souls.

 

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Picture of Chella Ramanan
Chella Ramanan
Chella hails from the UK and joined Gameindustry.com around the year 2000. It was so many moons ago, she can't quite remember. Back then, the only women you saw in the games industry were in bikinis and vertiginous heels at trade shows - oh how times have changed, kind of. Chella started as a humble reviewer, but soon became our European Correspondent and keeps us on top of industry happenings across the Pond. She tends to like the weird Japanese games we've never heard of, so that's good for making us look all-encompassing and stuff. Chella does like games, so don't be fooled by the copious amount of columns devoted to bemoaning the lack of variety in the industry. When she's not surfing (the sea, not the internet) or camping up mountains, Chella likes a good action RPG (especially if it's sci-fi), anything with a good narrative and like we said, the weirder the better. She's also a regular in the GiN Lounge, but that's just because we like her accent.