EMOTIONAL AMBIVALENCE IN THE LAST OF US: EMOTIONS IN VIDEO GAMES, BETWEEN NARRATIVE COMPLEXITY AND PLAYER ALLEGIANCE

This article offers an exploration of complexity through a narratological analysis of video game emotions, considered in two dimensions: the first related to audiovisual language strategies; and the second associated with gameplay. The objects of study are the two instalments in the video game saga The Last of Us. Emotions may be prefocused in the cinematic form, and they may also be the result of an evaluative process. But in addition to these cinematic emotions, we also consider gameplay emotions, which are based on the playable nature of video game narratives and player engagement, as players experience a wide range of emotions by virtue of their allegiance to the player character. This allegiance is prone to ambivalence and contradiction due to the game's narrative complexity and its content, the story, as demonstrated by the strategies used in The Last of Us associated with point of view and point of action.