Unpacking an Obfuscated Female Protagonist: The Use of Mise-en-Scène in Minimalist Videogame Narrative Through Social Semiotics

Mienke Fouché's analysis examines how Unpacking (Witch Beam, 2021) conveys the life story of an unseen female LGBTQI+ protagonist entirely through mise-en-scène, the arrangement of objects and spaces the player unpacks across eight stages spanning 21 years. The article's central thesis is that a minimalist game can construct a rich, emotionally resonant narrative without cutscenes, dialogue, or the protagonist's physical presence. Drawing on social semiotics and theorists including Tavinor, Gillespie, and Sofer, the author argues that objects accumulate meaning through recurrence, placement, and absence, producing "narratives of disclosure" in which players reconstruct a life through interaction.

The analysis situates this approach against a broader backdrop of representation research. Prior studies indicate that female and LGBTQI+ characters have grown more common in games, yet their portrayal remains uneven, with stereotypical and sexualised depictions still prevalent in many titles. Against this context, the article contrasts Unpacking's subtle method with the more explicit cultural and narrative framing found in games such as Venba and Assemble with Care.

Among the paper's key findings is that the game's restraint is integral rather than incidental. The protagonist's relationships, cultural identity, and personal growth are inferred from what is placed, repeated, or missing, a process the author links to Sofer's concept of "dark matter," the unseen events players infer from evidence. The inclusion of a LGBTQIA+ relationship, presented without being the focal point, is shown to foster a distinctive emotional intimacy between player and protagonist.

The article concludes that accumulated object significance and the felt weight of omission together make loss and transition legible through absence. The author proposes this framework as transferable to other genres and to future scholarship on minimalist game narratives, positioning Unpacking as a significant case study in how interactive design can express identity without explicit exposition.