Popular Culture Review 29.2
in many ways markedly rooted in a past that has more in common with the burgeoning industrial ages of America or Europe�Dunwall appears to be structurally and architecturally modeled on Western coastal cities�than it might with a thoroughly futuristic setting . Indeed , excepting the game ’ s supernatural and magical elements , it very well might be set in those locales , complete with the ravages of unchecked industrial growth choking the city in pollution and detritus .
Dunwall functions as an effective fictive space in that it is at once familiar , with its similarities to known industrialized cities , and alien , exploiting the familiar to create the unique social , cultural , and economic currencies of the game . P . Saxton Brown argues ,
Natural environments in video games constitute a paradox on top of the built / natural paradox , as a “ mimicked ” video game environment is always already a technological one . Mimicking , too , is something of an understatement : environment is at the center of gaming because , as a computer program , a video game is a type of world�a second , simplified nature�that forms the groundwork for the user ’ s actions and behavior . ( 386 )
Dunwall as a setting provides the player with the opportunity to engage in a tactile manner with the environment itself , bringing into sharper relief the poverty and environmental struggles plaguing it . The game provides a stunning degree of verticality , allowing the player embodying Corvo to climb and physically interact with the landscape . Indeed , to score a Low Chaos level , the player must use spaces like rooftops , ledges , and industrial pipes to remain out of sight of guards
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