The landscape in video games between pictorial references and romantic aesthetics

The distinction between a painted canvas and an open space designed to be explored was something uniquely definable in the past. Video game undermines this habit of thinking, blurring the boundaries between the representation of a scene and the creation of, albeit virtually, accessible places. From an artistic point of view, the tendency to pursue an aesthetic capable of establishing dialogic references with works of art of the past has gradually spread in the most recent video games. In this paper, the implications of this trend are considered with respect to the topic of landscape representation in the context of some recently released titles. The study concerns landscapes that are conceived, designed, and developed to tell stories, according to a narrative structure that follows the principles of environmental storytelling. In particular, it is argued that some principles and poetics typical of Romanticism are used to design landscapes and scenarios in video games in order to make the gaming experience more meaningful and engaging.