Stories in a Different Perspective: A Study of the Adaptation of 'The Witcher' and 'Metro' into Videogames

Adaptations utilising the videogame medium have become increasingly prevalent as technology has improved, allowing videogames to accommodate bigger and more diverse virtual worlds. However, the methods by which we analyse these videogame adaptations are indistinct from those utilised for analysing film adaptations. This leads to the videogame losing its potency as an adaptive medium within academic research. As such, within this thesis, I argue for the development of an analysis methodology which, for videogames, incorporates elements such as interactivity and the play-element. To accomplish this, I draw from many research fields to address three distinct aims, utilising Dmitry Glukhovsky’s Metro series and Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series as case studies. The first aim of the thesis is to analyse how narratives are utilised within videogame adaptations and their gameworlds. To do this, I address the role of the monster in videogames, how other mediums adapt a videogame’s ‘storyworld’, and how intertextual links inform those within the virtual play space. The second aim is to look at the interactive elements of videogame adaptations and how these formulate transmedial storyworlds, which I do by addressing the different structures, interpretations, and characterisations present within differing mediums. The third aim analyses how adaptation analysis could utilise different elements and understanding of the medium, to further argue my point of a ludic-based adaptation methodology. To do this I propose that an analysis of paratextual material, the levels of interaction, and audio-visual-tactile, can be utilised as some distinguishing elements of the videogame, utilising 4A Games’ Metro and CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher adaptations to exemplify my argument.