Ludo-narrative dissonance occurs when a game’s story appears to be at odds with the gameplay. When The Witcher has to urgently save Ciri, but must first explore every village and cave, master a trading card game, and visit all the brothels in the realm. But can ludo-narrative dissonance also have creative merit? We discuss precisely this question, based on the article “Game of Twisted Shouting: Ludo-Narrative Dissonance Revisited” by Paweł Grabarczyk and Bo Kampmann Walther.

Shownotes

Grabarczyk, Paweł, and Bo Kampmann Walther. “Game of Twisted Shouting: Ludo-Narrative Dissonance Revisited.”Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, vol. 13, no. 1, Dec. 2022, pp. 7–27.

Ludonarrative Dissonance in Bioshock (Clint Hocking)