it might seem funny that this game uses at much text as it does to convey context while still essentially playing within the fps idiom id established (besides asking for a deliberate playstyle sometimes, with consideration to which weapons produce which effects unique to themselves and often concentration-demanding map design, to put it in one word). but these two facts about marathon are not incompatible with each other; for one this games is truly adventurous with text, not just for the story's complexity for its own sake but for a rare understanding in games of how we perceive its text. each terminal exists as asymmetrical points in space, and within them too many asymmetrical points in space, to be shuffled around in our minds to create images that never feel complete to us, but for that reason meaning can shapelessly shift constantly. seeing marathon framed as a stepping stone to "better" fps storytelling structures that are far more emphatic on representation, whether its half life's walkable cutscenes or immsim environmental detail n interactivity, i can only think how much further marathon went in its freewheeling and uncannily confident belief in reading as vital to the interactive narrative experience, to consider what is not physical, what must exist but is formless.

and this does NOT contradict the fact that this is a mid-90s carnage fps where the devs called their flamethrower "TOZ-T", and the rocket launcher "SPNKR", and names players who beat levels on the highest difficulty with some silly stipulations "vidmasters"!! maybe less bloodshot-eyes macho than doom or most of its well known clones, sure, but it doesn't shy away from what it is!! how you play the game is what the text RELATES TO. each game in the trilogy deals with this question of what you are doing and why, but infinity specifically is a hell of a way to address its contradictions; the one thing that is certain in its world is you are disembodied arms with the kill verb, you got a shotgun and they don't, and the cacophony of voices telling you why you're doing that are easily modifiable from each other, and therefore none more significant than the other. the context NEEDS to exist to form awareness of this, we inherently dream and find connections in things after all but, speaking on itself as a game, its all infinite ends to become subjugated to one means. just as a sword becomes a master it becomes a sword again for its slave who masters the waves.

rip and tear warrior poet gaming. the virgin carmack "video game stories should be like story in porn" vs the chad kirkpatrick "computer games tell stories, that's what they're for"