In Galatea, there is only one place you can be, only one person you can talk to, and only a few different topics and phrases that she can react to. It’s these limitations that make the user learn to empathize with her as you play.

    In her essay, Playing at empathy: Representing and experiencing emotional growth through Twine games, Anastasia Salter states, “Of the observed elements, the most intriguing is the use of limitations on choice, which can seem counter-intuitive at first given the goal of inviting players to explore an emotional experience and develop empathy through a relationship to a character.” With twine stories falling under the same genre of works, being interactive fiction, it’s reasonable to assume that this statement carries over to Galatea.

    She talks about how by being limited, we can begin to form a basis for what a character isn’t comfortable talking about and start to form a connection. Since the player is not able to ask direct questions, only about things that have been said, it creates a want in the player to know more. After reading the vague plaque for Galatea’s sculptor, the player has an entirely new category to ask about and slowly learns about the harsh, self-destructive attitude of the artist that would eventually lead to their suicide. These moments build together, to create a more cohesive and upsetting view of what Galatea had to live through, creating a bond between yourself and a person who suffered. However, she can only recall these memories as you bring up certain tangential topics.

    It’s Galatea’s inability to recall her specific memories about her past that not only leave her feeling slightly desolate internally, but also forges a connection to the player. Neither one of you knows the full story and only by talking to each other can you figure anything out. (Click HERE to read about fragmented memories in JR Carpenter's Entre Ville.)

John Dominicos