Spatial Navigation

So as I continue my research into the semiotic codes of survival horrors, and at the moment the first three Resident Evil games, I have been reading some more academic texts on the audio and visual elements of the genre. I came across an article on GameStudies.org by Diane Carr which mentioned many important elements about the survival horror genre, taken from the game Silent Hill. The article mentioned Janet Murray's Hamlet on the Holodeck and how it described two spatial navigations in interactive texts: "Electronic environments offer the pleasure of orienteering in two very different configurations, each of which carries its own narrative power: the solvable maze and the tangled rhizome" (Murray, 2000) [1]. Survival horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil use the solvable maze structure in its environment design to maintain tension and propel the player forward. As mentioned in said article "...while a player could endlessly run around and around the same block, the location would be soon emptied of its potential to divert or surprise... Once the monsters have been killed, the locks opened or the puzzles solved, there is nobody to talk to and not a lot to see. Players are urged to keep moving"[2]. I have noticed this technical semtiotic code in the survival horror games I have played through various signs which connote the linear narrative progression. Puzzles which must be completed to progress and one way environments which must be explored to succeed are examples of this. 

To reiterate the point, the solvable maze configuration is seemingly used in the purest survival horror games as it allows the tension and fear of the game to be kept afloat while playing as it does not allow the player to deviate on other quests on the side. "Silent Hill's tight, maze structure fuels its ability to frighten its users. Silent Hill is able to maintain tension (more or less) throughout because it refuses to be diverted or slowed by elucidation" [2]. Even though it could be argued that not all survival games are 100% like this, as there will always be open-ended rhizome areas to explore at some points, I believe the idea that the linear narrative progression and environment design really does add to the maintaining of the game atmosphere created through the set pieces, soundtrack and the other audio and visual codes in survival horrors. 

[1] Murray Janet H, 2000, Hamlet on the Holodeck; The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace Cambridge MA MIT Press (3rd printing).

[2] GameStudies.org: Play Dead: Genre and Affect in Silent Hill and Planescape Torment, Diane Carr, retrieved on 18/05/2009