How The Manipulation of Temporality Affects Closure in Adaptations.

Abstract

Videogames are a prime medium for adaptation, incorporating literature into playable worlds and altering the understanding the player has about these pieces of literature. This study delves into the aspect of temporal manipulation in relation to the effects it has on the sense of closure someone experiences when comparing the changes between the original work and the adaptation. This study focuses on Limbus Company and its adaptation of Moby Dick and Wuthering Heights, and how these narratives have been affected by the introduction of alternative timelines in their adaptations called The Evil Defining and The Heartbreaking respectively. Through the ‘Mirror World’ and the alternative endings it offers the characters, Limbus Company gives two contrasting endings to the original works. Allowing the player to visualise the results of different choices the characters could have made in the original narratives and through contrast it enhances the message of these works.