My master’s thesis with the Cologne Game Lab offers a critical reflection on immersion through an analysis of an “aesthetics of rupture.” This approach is characterized by the raw integration of live-action footage into a computer-generated world.

In the context of competing with reality, the refinement of game graphics now relies on the use of real-world capture techniques such as photogrammetry. As a result, the medium has never been closer to reality. And yet, while the image of reality is very much present in the production process, it is invisible in the game because it seems to merge with the computer-generated imagery. The trace of reality is therefore invisible, and the indexical nature of photogrammetry is erased.

But bucking this trend, some video games incorporate live-action footage in a way that creates a sense of dissonanceembracing the contrast between photographs and computer-generated imagery. This method of integration is described as a collage because it involves incorporating fragments of reality as they are, creating an aesthetic conflict with the synthetic world.

In my thesis, I analyzed this aesthetic of rupture by linking it to a broader discourse on the contemporary era. I wondered whether one could find political significance in this aesthetic of digital collage by comparing it to collages from the interwar period. And I proposed interpreting this aesthetic as a desire to break free from immersion in a time when experiences of simulation are becoming increasingly common. 

My analysis was based on games that feature live-action image overlays: games from Remedy Entertainment (Control, Alan Wake, Quantum Break), as well as the paper-craft world from the lesser-known documentary-style game Cosmic Top Secret by Klassefilm and the video spectres from Bill Viola’s game, The Night Journey.

Finally, drawing on the philosophers of Critical Theory, I proposed interpretive frameworks for a politico-aesthetic analysis of collage in video games within its contemporary context.