Recently I started playing the 2016 release of the game DOOM and it got me thinking about the aesthetics of Hell and the horrid hordes who call the place home.
The artists and modellers over at 'id Software' have done a fantastic job creating beautifully repulsive creatures and environments!
To some, that last sentence might not make any sense. It takes very talented people to make something that repulses you but yet you can't stop looking and, in my case when it came to DOOM, something you want to explore!
I was so obsessed with how much of a solid experience the game was for me that, of course, I had to tell people about it and it even inspired me to draw!..
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| Personal Drawing based off of the 2016 DOOM's Reverent promotional artwork - Originally Posted on Instagram. |
I was having a conversation with someone about the game when they asked me if heaven was involved at all or was it just Hell. The game just focuses on Hell but that question got me thinking. Credit to Alice from OneCuriousChip for raising some really interesting observations, some of which I will use for myself... but I'll expand on em...
I asked myself the question 'is Hell more interesting than Heaven?'
Disclaimer...
I mean this in the context of the modern western media's interpretation of such a place, it's aesthetics, it's sound design and it's role in story telling and a media consumer's experience.
I am NOT faulting or suggesting anything at all about anyone's beliefs or that of my own.
I am asking this from the point of view of an individual who likes to create stories and art and just so happened to have played a video game thinking it looked pretty cool.
On with the rest of the show...
When it comes to heaven people generally think of a place that is strictly "pure", "innocent" and "perfect". With hell, anything goes! Do you want this creature to have 5 eyes? Go ahead! Do you want this place to look like its made of a giant skeleton turning into a tree? Go ahead!
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| In-game screen shot I took of giant skeleton turning into a tree (DOOM 2016 - PC). |
Sound can be distorted. It can be fast paced and highly energetic, or a slow crawl. This monster's foot step sounds like a fleshy cheese grater on a hot cracked stone... perfect!
Hell as a concept is usually a place of malformed monsters that proudly displays pain and suffering. However, Hell and it's inhabitants have been known, in popular culture, as masters of deception.
So in terms of its look and feel, one moment you could have a place that is so delightful it seems it was plucked from the dreams of the happiest child with a triple chocolate chipped ice cream! The next, it could shape shift, coil, bend and bulge into a terrifying world plucked from the sleepless nights of the saddest child who dropped a triple chocolate chipped ice cream.
Hell also comes packaged with conflict, the root of all good stories. When I thought about it I realised that I only ever found heaven interesting when it was fighting against the demons of Hell or when it was a goal and destination for a characters journey.
There is a certain freedom granted to someone creating a Hellish setting. It is not a sacred place by definition so anything goes! I didn't even touch on game play possibilities!..
Hell also comes packaged with conflict, the root of all good stories. When I thought about it I realised that I only ever found heaven interesting when it was fighting against the demons of Hell or when it was a goal and destination for a characters journey.
There is a certain freedom granted to someone creating a Hellish setting. It is not a sacred place by definition so anything goes! I didn't even touch on game play possibilities!..
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| DOOM promotional artwork for the 2016 release. |
Now, I'm not saying you can't do creative things with Heaven as a setting, no sir. I guess I just prefer Hell because of my natural morbid curiosity.
Maybe it is how the Heaven that comes to my mind feels more like an ending. The point where ones journey is finished and there is nothing left to do.
Perhaps that idea boars me because I am only 20 years old as of writing this post. I have an entire life to live, new things to experience, place to visit... I have so much more to do in this life. So a place of permanent rest simply doesn't interest me yet.
Heaven is an Ending and Hell is a Journey.
"It’s a fascinating thought because Hell – a bad situation – is something that you will do everything you can do to fight to get out of. Nobody is going to accept that fate and stay there without a fight, and that’s something that makes it so interesting. By contrast, Heaven – a good situation – is something that someone would do anything to fight to protect, even if it means going to Hell and back."
- Alice from OneCuriousChip.
It was pretty fun thinking about all this! It is such a big topic of discussion! I hope this blog post spurred some thoughts in your mind and, if so, I would love to hear them!
Right now, I think I'm going to strap on a helmet, plunge into Hell and maim some Mancubi!
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| A GIF I made of the DOOM - Fight Like Hell Cinematic Trailer. |
We shall 'shlaters',
Richard.