Narration in Bastion
Bastion is a game by Supergiant Games where you play as a survivor of an apocalyptic event in a fantasy world. Your character, known only as the Kid, meets another survivor - an old man named Rucks - in the sanctuary known as the Bastion, and must then journey to find artifacts that can power the Bastion.
Rucks also serves as the game's narrator; his voice is one of the first things you hear as you start the game and is the only voice that speaks up until the very end. All world building and narrative moments are narrated by Rucks, to the point that he even relates what other characters have said to you through his narration. He narrates the entire game as if telling a story to someone, and the game plays with this in a few ways.
During one section of the game where you play in a noxious gas-induced dream segment, the narration still plays out in the dream, but is distorted; it's still Ruck's voice, but there's very clearly something wrong with it. In other dream segments, meant to tell the backstories of different characters, Rucks will recite those character's life stories to you as you battle waves of dream enemies.
Finally, during the final level, it is revealed that his narration up until that point actually has been him telling the game as a story to someone else. As you play through the final level, Rucks notes that he does not know what's happening, as you playing the final level is taking place in the present rather than the past: Rucks cannot tell the story of what is happening to you because it is happening to you as he tells his story.
I would classify Rucks as a somewhat unreliable first-person narrator. Everything he says pertaining to the game you play is true enough, as often what he says is either preset to go along with the story or determined by your actions, but notably when he speaks about the world the game is set in, both before and after the apocalypse took place, all of his comments are tinged by his specific worldview. For example, he often scorns the gods, and always tries to push towards one specific solution to the apocalypse. When he narrates, he speaks in character, as Rucks.
Rucks also serves as the game's narrator; his voice is one of the first things you hear as you start the game and is the only voice that speaks up until the very end. All world building and narrative moments are narrated by Rucks, to the point that he even relates what other characters have said to you through his narration. He narrates the entire game as if telling a story to someone, and the game plays with this in a few ways.
During one section of the game where you play in a noxious gas-induced dream segment, the narration still plays out in the dream, but is distorted; it's still Ruck's voice, but there's very clearly something wrong with it. In other dream segments, meant to tell the backstories of different characters, Rucks will recite those character's life stories to you as you battle waves of dream enemies.
Finally, during the final level, it is revealed that his narration up until that point actually has been him telling the game as a story to someone else. As you play through the final level, Rucks notes that he does not know what's happening, as you playing the final level is taking place in the present rather than the past: Rucks cannot tell the story of what is happening to you because it is happening to you as he tells his story.
I would classify Rucks as a somewhat unreliable first-person narrator. Everything he says pertaining to the game you play is true enough, as often what he says is either preset to go along with the story or determined by your actions, but notably when he speaks about the world the game is set in, both before and after the apocalypse took place, all of his comments are tinged by his specific worldview. For example, he often scorns the gods, and always tries to push towards one specific solution to the apocalypse. When he narrates, he speaks in character, as Rucks.
Comments