Ludic Mechanics, Psychic Mechanisms and Explorations of “Inner Space” in Mindwheel and Psychonauts
Games and Culture May 17, 2023 Rob Mayo
An essay compares two video games, Robert Pinsky's Mindwheel (1984) and Tim Schafer's Psychonauts (2005), as examples of the "inner space" tradition from science fiction, where the human mind is depicted as a physical space to explore. It examines how each game's mechanics create either adversarial or cooperative interactions with the player, shaping different forms of inner space exploration. Drawing on Lakoff and Johnson's concept of orientational metaphors from embodied experience, the essay analyzes the coherence of each game's metaphors and narratives.