Mountain Mama & Deep Interlock

All Mother Mountain from Horizon Zero Dawn
"Living structures contain some form of interlock: situations where centers are ‘hooked’ into their surroundings." - Christopher Alexander

In the previous posts I have mostly tried to show how patterns can be applied to narrative in video games by pointing out how the pattern wasn't applied. I think it is effective to point out certain assumed deficiencies in order to explain how a pattern can be used in analysis. But sometimes it might be more illustrative to show how a pattern is actually successfully implemented into a game's narrative. I believe Deep Interlock is such a pattern.

In Horizon Zero Dawn we see Deep Interlock around the main character, Aloy, on several levels. Her story and the genesis of her being, are intricately interlocked into the rest of the game. Aloy is grown in an artificial womb and put on the doorstep of "the Old Ones". The Old Ones is how the Nora tribe that Aloy is a part of refer to the civilisation that brought about the apocalypse and its accompanying killer robots. 

When Aloy would be taken out of the story, the connection with the robots and the search for what happened with the Old Ones would be completely lost. This is the first level of Deep Interlock. 

Aloy going through a Cauldron

"...a similar unification is accomplished through the creation of spatial ambiguity..." - Christopher Alexander

Aloy's search into history always leads to caves or Cauldrons as they are called in the game. These Cauldrons are placed in mountains and hide the advanced technological nature of the Old Ones. The Cauldrons and the information that they hide are in that way deeply interlocked into the story and their surroundings. 

Imagine seeing the high-tech tunnel systems lying bare in the pristine landscapes of Horizon's world. It would completely upset the story and experience of the game. The Cauldrons and All Mother Mountain form the second level of Deep Interlock. 

The third level is the relation that Aloy has with her genetic mother. This forms another bridge between the old world and the one that you play in. It draws the story together from beginning to end and gives it momentum. I am very curious to see how Guerrilla Games will try to achieve the same or something similar in the game's sequel Forbidden West.

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