The Rawlings

Synopsis

The Rawlings is a third-person surreal horror videogame that begins with the player inside a forest park with no recollection of who they are, their past and how they got there. To retrieve their memories, they must go into the forest, but the more they wander forward, the more the forest pushes back. Drawing from the dark history of Stanley Park in Vancouver and research on gay cruising, The Rawlings explores queer memories and storytelling through investigating the relationship between bodies, dance and space. The forest beckons the player to dance with fragments of themselves to uncover their memories. Each dance damages not only the player but also the forest, forcing the player to find meaning and pleasure in self destruction. The Rawlings uses themes of violence and death to create an aesthetic and radical space in which one can explore alternative values, desires and paths to queer futures.