The story of Amber Row begins when the player enters with purpose into the virtual world, obliterating the body of a previous avatar, assuming her general silhouette, and scattering her memories as collectable objects. The central mechanic of collecting these objects relates grinding in games (or, working hard to achieve merit), to the work involved in mourning, and explores grief as a place to dwell in comfortable stasis.

 

Finding the few collectable objects that do not belong to the original avatar and returning them to characters in the game world reveals snippets of narrative, but slowly destroys the world and the player's avatar. As the player collects more objects from the world, their body changes and distorts. When the player attempts to give back objects, the world itself begins to degrade. At the locus of each action is an allegory for grief as a set of limitations. There is no score, no reward, only a process of disassociation through exhaustive effort and repetition, and the effect of investing in a virtual world where there is no other agency but to put the controller down.

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This project was made possible with generous support from the Princess Grace Foundation and the Hillenburg family.