Meaningful and engaging video games are often those that most successfully immerse us in the story. They allow us to imagine ourselves in other people’s experiences, to relate to and connect with them, and ultimately remind us of our shared humanity.
Role-playing games (RPGs) are a particularly powerful way to create those connections. RPGs are a genre of game where the player assumes the role of a character and becomes immersed in that character’s world.
The relationship between gaming and empathy is complex, but there is evidence to suggest that role play can elicit meaningful emotions and shape the player’s relationship to the experience being communicated. Empathy RPGs are video games that invite players to identify with the protagonist to share real-world, even autobiographical, narratives.
The RPG Liyla and the Shadows of War was developed by game designer Rasheed Abueideh in 2016. Set during Israel’s 2014 bombardment of Gaza, the game gives players a glimpse of the real people, families and suffering behind the statistics.
Evoking empathy
The goal of the game is to get the main character’s daughter, Liyla, to safety. The game is a puzzle platformer; the player controls Liyla’s father as he runs through empty streets at night in a black-and-white stylized city, climbing buildings and navigating dangerous situations by interacting with the environment, like using a dumpster as a shield.
The ending is what you might expect if you’ve been following Israel’s current assault on the Gaza Strip. While the deaths in this game are not graphic, they are impactful — I felt both anxious and heartbroken as I tried to save my family, again and again.
Empathy RPGs can foster understanding and challenge misrepresentations and stereotypes. Game designer Gav Sarafian writes of their autobiographical game Deficit,
“I hope this game helps those who wish to better understand the ADHD experience and is validating for those who live it every day.”
A well-known empathy RPG is Depression Quest, an autobiographical game that allows the player to navigate living with depression. Another is That Dragon, Cancer, based on the developers’ experience of parenting and caring for a child with cancer.
Video games can share poignant, emotionally challenging and complex experiences and bring the player into that world through immersive, interactive storytelling.
Of course, scholars have discussed the limitations of empathy as a framework for game design, including centring the privileged imagined player who does not share the identity of the character and the way empathy itself can be constrained by society (who we empathize with, and who are we are not allowed to empathize with).
In her field-defining book Critical Play, artist and scholar Mary Flanagan notes that “artists can produce contexts for play, empathy, and learning.” Perhaps we can assert that games create the possibility for empathy, rather than insisting on empathy as a definitive or sole outcome of a game.
Life under attack
The opening screen of Liyla and the Shadows of War recommends playing the game in the dark with headphones on to make the experience more immersive. Game scholar Jenn Olive writes that “by asking the player to shut themselves off from the rest of the sensory world, the game establishes an intimate relationship with the player.” This intimacy is part of creating the possibility for empathy.
The game starts: a rooster crows as lights flicker on and off in a low-rise apartment building. Liyla’s father jogs through quiet streets, and the scene is almost peaceful. Meditative. Suddenly, a burst of colour appears on screen — a vivid yellow-orange — as a rocket is fired directly into one of the buildings, setting it on fire and causing the building to collapse.
The sound design in this game is extremely effective in creating tension. There is no background music, just sound effects designed to mimic the experience of city life. The lack of music underscores the jarring juxtaposition between the gentle sound of crickets chirping and the sudden bursts of gunfire.
The greyscale palette of the game provides a neutral backdrop to the weapons of war, which are shown in reds, yellows and oranges. The visual design and colours used offer a stark contrast between ordinary life and the extraordinary experience of life under siege. As you progress through the levels, the setting becomes less recognizable as a residential neighbourhood — the buildings are more damaged, the drones and warplanes more visible in the sky above.
Liyla is just a character, but the Palestinian children being killed in Gaza are real. Actions in game are based on the very real decisions people living in a war zone must often make, and the choices the player makes can often get the characters killed.
Faceless numbers, jargon and inflammatory rhetoric often confuse or obfuscate the human cost and suffering of war, occupation and apartheid. Yet, Liyla and the Shadows of War uses interactive storytelling to share the experiences of Palestinian families under siege. By inviting players to imagine themselves in Gaza, the game offers a chance to identify and empathize with them.
Humanizing media is vital
We live in the age of misinformation, of AI-doctored images, bots and sponsored search results. We know that truths are twisted and bent based on political motivation. Dehumanization is rampant across the political spectrum, as people seek to justify the deaths of children as collateral damage or an unfortunate mistake; or try to convince us that someone’s kids have to die for others to be safe.
Now more than ever, we need media that humanizes, that encourages compassion and connection; that reminds us, as author and civil rights activist James Baldwin wrote, “the children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe.”
If you’re looking for a new game to play, consider Liyla and the Shadows of War. It’s free to play and is downloadable from the App Store, Google Play and itch.io (Windows).