◄ page 1All things change upon reaching the university, however. A totally different look and feel are presented and significantly altered atmosphere hangs in the air and on the landscape, but it remains distinctly, and perhaps more recognizably autumnal - a late autumn aesthetic as opposed to the dam's early autumn. The contrast and execution of the portrayal of a dusky yet virescent evergreen autumn landscape changing into a crisp, golden and deciduous environment is exceptionally pleasing, but also accurate in its landscape features and feel. The change also mirrors the events of the story, with the ever-barer landscape, chilly air and even the sky getting darker over the course of the chapter, echoing the turn of events the chapter will bring.
At the university's landscape, man-made buildings, structures, and roads re-appear and are once again smothered by plants; the landscape continuing its reclaiming mission, never really loosening its grip despite the seasonal change. However, the now-golden foliage shows the going-dormant and dying foliage in a beautiful range of oranges, yellows, reds, and browns. While the colors are pleasing, the connection between the ever-sparser foliage and landscape, and the events of the end of the chapter seems close and distinct.
The university's golden color palette, from maple trees to brickwork is successful at transporting
the characters right to the end of the season.Across the university's landscape, however, it is no surprise to see the maple tree play an important role. Again, native to the setting, it would be prevalent across the area naturally, but also embraced and used as a landscape tree for features, focal points, and general greening and softening of man-made areas. Using the tree here in the environment is also effective, believable and appropriate on a game-narrative level, beautifully and aptly accompanying it at this pivotal juncture.
Their golden color makes a perfect backdrop to the hardness of the university's abandoned buildings and also heightens the contrast between the early and evergreen autumn aesthetic at the dam - the time of year, setting and plot have very much changed and altering the land to a deciduous, golden and late-autumn landscape only serves to exaggerate that. The iconic autumn trees make for a distinctly recognizable autumn setting, immediately cementing the change that is on the land - and the plot. The red maples across the university are excellent specimens and authentically demonstrate the tree going through its autumnal motions. Perhaps, the tree's habit of changing gradually to its autumn colors, one branch at a time, almost mirrors Joel's slowly-but-surely changing attitude toward Ellie, his relationship with her and their journey.
The maple trees at the university have flourished in the absence of pruning and maintenance.The tree's direct environmental role is powerful and prominent even within the university building itself, with autumnal landscape elements present, acting almost as fortune-tellers, continually displaying the importance of autumn's landscape in the chapter but also using the environment as a storytelling aid. A fine example of this is the autumnal tree leering into the building, extending the influence of the landscape into the in-game area - and the fact Joel and Ellie pass it once on their way in, and then again on their rushed escape on the way back out.
The autumn landscape reaches inside and plays a direct part in the environmental storytelling. Leering in
to play its own part, the representation of Joel's demise and the tree's foliage catching up below is powerful
and meaningful.There is something powerfully autumnal about the season landscape representing the crushing of the characters' fortunes; and how Joel falls to a critical injury, landing on and being surrounded by the tree and its foliage - an element of the autumn landscape directly representing the dire situation, offset by the usually-pleasant colors of the landscape.
Autumn in The Last of Us is one of the most powerful uses of the season - and seasons generally - in games. The sense of change and transition is harnessed beautifully and encapsulates the plot movements and pace. It's quiet, early-autumn start crescendos into a dramatic late-autumn plot twist; the autumn landscape morphs from an evergreen version at the dam to the Auburn and golden deciduous, late-autumn one at the university, capturing the mood of the chapter and the characters, and the sudden downturn in Joel's fate.
The Commonwealth in Fallout 4 presents us with two very different autumn landscapes. In the prologue, we briefly see a bright, sunny and pleasant autumnal setting - the date the bombs dropped is set in the lore as 23rd October - filled with golden-orange trees, mist rising from the stream and a glowing warmth from the sun. An interesting use of the season of dormancy and the downturn of life in the landscape to reflect the dramatic downturn of the world as war forever changes landscapes and environments.
The autumn landscape surrounding Sanctuary Hills on show in the prologue contrasts the
inevitable destruction and devastation that occurs moments after the journey to the vault.After the prologue and vault escape, the sole survivor finds their home landscape permanently altered. But in a strange, quasi-autumnal manner. While it was recognizably autumnal in the traditional sense when they left it, it has now been transformed into an almost totally-autumn-affected landscape. There is a constant tension in the landscape between dormancy and recovery and plants, topology, water sources and everything in between seems to be frozen in a 'perma-autumn' state. The result of this is a landscape that encapsulates the themes of autumn well - dormancy of life, semi-emptiness, end of life cycles and so on - and yet has a wide-open landscape allowing for clear vistas and expansive autumn views through the land. The sun always seems low and glinting through the dead and dormant trees, there is a clear and distinct, but not wintry, emptiness to the land, and the prevailing color palette is still in the orange, yellow, red and brown area of the spectrum.
In contrast to the lush and golden autumn of the pre-war, the open landscape of the post-war
Commonwealth allows for expansive views through the trees with bunches of autumn color,
from plants, structures or the bare land, scattered throughout.This landscape character is aided by the role the plants and soft landscape features play across the lands. There are little to no flowering plants or many with any real color; the trees are all bare, near dead-looking; and the plants present are grassy, brushy and look like summer-thriving ornamental grasses that have gone over. Fitting in with the predominantly orange-color theme, plants do make occasional pops of color across the mostly-barren landscape, often in the form of brushier, grassier specimens. However, some more shrubby specimens make an appearance sporadically to provide structure and anchor points around trees in the landscape. What results is a strange, yet credible in an artistic license-infused way, cross-sections of autumn from end to end as a season - almost encroaching into spring at times, and winter at others - but factoring in a distinct extra-environmental setting in terms of the nuclear devastation and fallout. What results is an autumnal feel to the landscape's softer elements as the sole survivor crunches their way past and through brittle-looking, golden plants and grasses and their debris, while often being able to utilize the season's ability to open up landscape vistas through the dormant and dead trees.
The overriding color palette for the plants stays in the autumn range too, with glinting red and orange
shrubs, red-ish woody specimens, and brushier, sandy-colored grasses all combining to create the autumn
plant aesthetic - the colors even extending to the bare land itself.Of course, the time of year changes with days and weeks that pass in-game, but no matter what, and no matter the dated time of year, the landscape always feels autumnal. The landscape is littered with dormant-looking trees, autumnal-coloured plants and bare earth that culminate in a relentlessly autumnal landscape, constantly mirroring society's fall, desperation and struggle within the transient and changing nature of the season.
Autumn proves just as important in games' environments as the other seasons. It may not be as immediately impactful aesthetically as a snowy landscape or sunny, beach setting, but it can be equally important and manifests in games in its own powerful ways: changing atmospheres; altering landscapes before our very eyes; and twisting experiences. It neatly, pleasingly and intriguingly bridges the gap between the extremes of summer and winter, but with its own transient nature always present: each ray of gently warming sunshine offset by every dropping leaf; golden landscape trees provide immediately recognizable and powerful landscape sights; mystery enhanced by a landscape in constant change; vistas change, becoming more open; and the overall sense of dormancy and quiet emptying of the land proves a powerful narrative mirroring opportunity.
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