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La mode rétro: French mystery games – Between nostalgia and historical revisionism (1986–91)
- Source: Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, Volume 13, Issue 1, Mar 2021, p. 41 - 53
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- 29 Dec 2018
- 17 Mar 2021
- 01 Mar 2021
Abstract
This article examines how games set in the past reflect contemporary social and political events without overtly communicating messages. Using a simplified version of Astrid Ensslin’s methodological toolkit, the author studies four critically acclaimed retrospective mystery games produced in France within the 1986–91 period. The research results allow one to externalize a trend marked by ambiguous meanings called la mode rétro, namely a nostalgic re-creation of the past and a simultaneous coming-to-terms with France’s history. The author contextualizes the games examined here in terms of their references to a problematic past – the nation’s wartime stance towards Nazi Germany, and colonialism – and contemporaneous events such as the emergence of the National Front in France. The titles examined here demonstrate how discursively ambiguous computer games are as cultural texts.