Mythical narratives in digital games and the digital apocalypse

ABSTRACT Digital games propagate mythical stories and revitalize medieval legends. Amplification of gothic elements in contemporary media and in digital games reflects an ideological and aesthetic transformation of cultural products in contemporary society. This essay discusses distinctiveness in game narratives by citing diverse theories, including semiotics and theories of psychoanalysis, as well as mythology and theology. Game narratives tend to deconstruct the conventional timeframes of chronological order seen in the narratives of traditional literature. Contrary to the formulaic structure of mythology described by Joseph Campbell, digital games introduce a new dimension of time in narratives akin to biblical apocalypse. Digital games deploy synchronic time, exclusively in the form of the present tense, which Tillich identifies as relating to kairos contingent on Heidegger’s notion of time. At their forefront, digital games visualize elements of literary stories as a result of deploying synchronic time in reimagined narratives. While digital games attract users via this new concept of transformative time and their visual embellishment of mysticism, innovative narratives in digital games function as a new means of ideology, resonating with the social psychology of users under the challenges of the contemporary world.