Intentional Glitch Art in Batman: Arkham Asylum
Glitches, as discussed last post, can also be called a bug but more so can be intentional as a form of art. According to Pedro Ferreira and Luísa Ribas in Post-Digital Aesthetics in Contemporary Audiovisual Art, they say the “critical role of glitch [is] promoting awareness of the materiality and infrastructure of audiovisual media… In order for the glitch to work as a critical element, the audience has to be able to recognize it as an intended feature of the work, and not as a technical failure” (Ferreira, Ribas 116). Meaning, it can’t break the game even though it does something to the game that wasn’t initially intended. Most of these glitches seem to come through visually and attempt to create a feeling of the unexpected. The glitch I have chosen as an example is as intentional of a glitch as they come.
In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the enemy Scarecrow uses Fear Gas on Batman to make him see his parents or think someone is dead. At one point, however, the artists and developers of the game seemed to embrace this aesthetic of intentional glitch and make it a part of the game. The Fear Gas from Scarecrow hits and it actually affects you, not Batman, but the player. The game starts to looking like the visuals are glitching, so much so that players have questioned if the game broke until it eventually turns back to normal and they realize it was a part of the game. The glitches are mostly shown visually, breaking up the images on the screen and almost breaking the fourth dimension that you are in fact not Batman but the player of a video game. Usually intentional glitches are from artists taking games, pictures, images, any sort of media, and effecting it, but this one is straight from the developers and is a literal part of the game. I don’t think I have experienced anything quite like this in a video game, especially intentional from a developer, so it definitely left me and a bunch of people who originally played the game go through the unfamiliar and unexpected. I’d argue it makes the game and Scarecrow’s ability stronger and scarier, since it has the strength to even leave the game and affect the one playing.
Ferreira, Pedro, and Luísa Ribas. Post-Digital Aesthetics in Contemporary Audiovisual Art. XCoAx 2020, 2020, 2020.xcoax.org/pdf/xCoAx2020-Ferreira.pdf.