The Outer Limits
PERSPECTIVE
The Outer Limits
Journeys to the farthest reaches of interactive entertainment
ALEX SPENCER
Illustration konsume.me
One of the very first things you see after entering Somerset House’s MC Escher exhibition is a quote from the man himself, blown up to fill an entire wall, in all caps: “MY WORK IS A GAME, A VERY SERIOUS GAME”. And, well, I know an incitement to column-writing when I see one.
Having died in 1972, the Dutch artist is unlikely to have ever witnessed a videogame in motion but his influence on our medium is enormous. Monument Valley and Manifold Garden are easy enough examples, but also, doesn’t The Drowned Cathedral (1929) look like woodcut concept art for a FromSoft level? And surely the twin chameleons and interlocking polyhedrons of Stars (1948) are the origin of that one stage in Lumines Arise.