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• 1 media/Spooky Sound Waves.jpg 2017-11-28T07:32:51-08:00 Sound within the Evil Within 14 plain 2017-12-13T18:06:35-08:00

  Any gamer knows that atmosphere is set by soundtrack. In order for a successful game of any genre to effectively immerse a player into its universe the game must have a natural seeming and well flowing soundtrack. There are two major components to soundtracks within gaming and they are, score, and atmospheric sound. The developers of The Evil Within put very meticulous care into developing each of these similar to their art and animation. The standard of quality was set high with the first two modalities so naturally it must be achieved by the third. During an interview one of the soundtrack designers by the name of Shuichi Kobori stated “the key factor in consideration to quality audio is immersion. The audio helps as a tool to control how the player feels,” and through controlling how the player feels and reinforcing immersion the uncanny cycle continues.
   

  Scores within videogames have always been a pivotal point in the games success due to how strong of an influence it has on not only immersion but experience. If the player feels the score is unbearable due to conflicts of interest between the game and the score, or that the score itself is of too low quality the game will not create an immersive environment ruining the experience. With the Evil Within the developers team tasked with sound design chose that score was best kept to a minimum. Music was only created for key points within the game such as for the main menu, or when the player is idle in the save room. It is important to point out that music within the game does not encompass all sound with musical elements, rather music within the game pertains to the infinitely looped tracks created for when the player is at a point of rest. These scores tend to be less intense and more slowly paced. The choices to make these scores less intense and slowly paced attempts to not entirely appease the player, rather evoke feelings of creeping dread or subtle anxiety. The stylistic choice of score played through a phonograph creates this eerie sense although being at a safe point. This could be due to the fact that many players in this circumstance are not familiar with this style of score, and that is also directly contradicts the tone/pace set forth by the game. If uncanny occurs through the transgression of boundaries then this example is the clearest occurrence. As Shuichi said earlier this is one of the players emotions are manipulated in transitioning from present threat to perceived safety.

  Going hand in hand with score and also getting confused with it is atmospheric sound. This label is quite vague largely due to all sounds that are not specifically labeled for score are put under this umbrella. These sounds range from distant to close, quiet to loud, soft to heavy and more. Unfortunately music in certain circumstances is also classified as atmospheric sound, yet this only occurs when the music is derived from the action(s) of a scene or chain of occurrences. Examples of music that are classified as atmospheric sounds are the music behind chase scenes, enemy encounters, and boss fights. While all audio can be argued to be atmospheric sound for the Evil Within there appears to be a clear distinction between the two through the products of the sound design and development teams. Atmospheric sounds within this game are largely used as audio cues to the player signaling that an event is going to occur. There is no indication of when and sometimes the cue may not be indicative of any event but used to make the player anxious. Within audio clip where Laura is met there are several audio cues signifying a future event. The most clear one being the sound of Sebastian's gun being reloaded. This audio cue perfectly indicates that the player is nearing an event involving a possible threat. Tinwell, Grimshaw and Williams in their writing on Uncanny behavior also mentioned this occurrence when stating “uncanny sensation may occur when a particular character is perceived as a threat, over which the viewer has little or no control.” The whole premise of a survival horror game is that the player has no control over the antagonists trying to kill them and while this causes uncanny as the three writers stated a lot of this determination between friend and foe is through atmospheric sound. If an interaction between player and another character occurs with no context or perceptual cues the player will not comprehend the situation. Much of the label of “perceived threat” has to do sound associated to the appearance of the character. The sound associated to the character could be verbal in the form of unintelligible grunts or other various sounds, or simply the tone in which they speak. The boundary of uncanniness that sound is capable of transgressing is very flexible as it can be transgressed from both sides. A perfectly innocent looking character could be incredibly hostile while a menacing looking character could be perfectly docile. The sound cues presented to a player in any given situation determine the course of action the player projects onto the avatar. To present a small example this audio file between the games main protagonist Sebastian and another main character Leslie demonstrates that perceptions we form of Sebastian, without any contextual evidence, are negative due to the tone in which he
  speaks and the diction he is given.