Inside – A Study of Foreground and Background (A Video Essay)

A few weeks ago, I watched through and wrote about a video essay by Mr Orrin Luc (@OrrinLuc) about “The Silent Cinema of Team Ico” which compared the way in which game developer Team Ico to the Golden Age of Silent Cinema, in the way that they can portray feelings, progress a story and evoke emotions without the use of dialogue, much in the way games like The Last of Us, for example, do.

Anyway, Orrin’s done it again, this time with a very thoughtful and interesting take on Playdead’s (of LIMBO fame) latest masterpiece – Inside. Please take out 7 minutes and 40 seconds to watch through. Enjoy.

Right before I delve into this – yes there is a shout out to me at the end of the video around the 7:05 mark – but even if there wasn’t I would be writing another article on Orrin’s latest video and I would urge you to watch some of his others on his YouTube Channel.

Right, let’s get started. I think the reason why LIMBO and now Inside are both so popular is a simple reason – a feeling of nostalgia, especially among gamers in the 25-40 age bracket. Gamers who grew up on Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, gamers who have grown and matured at the same time as the video game industry as a whole. And playing games like Inside, are a way of playing those old-school games like that but that have evolved and matured along with us as gamers.

The evolution of side-scrollers has been superficial in the most part, with the ways in which you play as noted by Orrin, being very samey – enemies come in from the sides of the screen, but the background is generally just that – a background. Whereas Inside utilises the background to bring about a depth of the game that is rarely (if at all) seen in other games in the genre.

The way that LIMBO evolved the genre by bringing about a dark and silhouetted style and a way in which you can’t directly harm others but have to use other objects and traps to do so was almost revolutionary, the way that Inside further enhances this genre by making it so much more immersive – you must keep an eye out on the background at all times to make sure you don’t get caught short.

Orrin Luc has again delved deeper than most would go to into the way that games are created, and has struck his point neatly on the head with great examples and comparisons to films such as the classic Brazil from Terry Gilliam or Children of Men. I’ll be keeping my eye out on his future videos and can’t wait to share them with you when they are uploaded.

What do you think of Inside’s distinct style? Are you a fan or do you prefer developers keep it simple? Let us know in the comments below or in the RGM Forums.