Oscillating the flatline: Symbolic technogothic reinterpretations as interrogated through Night School Studio’s Oxenfree

Mark Fisher’s foundational work, Flatline Constructs: Gothic Materialism and Cybernetic Theory-Fiction , introduced and examined the concept of flatline constructs (FCs): non-human virtual entities that interact in lifelike ways with humans. Despite FCs being functionally dead, they operate in a descriptive grey area, embodying an uncanny juxtaposition of unlife–undeath identity. This scholarship reinterprets Fisher’s FC notions as archetypes of the technogothic, applying this concept to examine video game Oxenfree . I argue Oxenfree deliberately ‘oscillates the flatline’ manipulates in-game characters and digital sprite performances in ways that cycle between emotive portrayals imbued with ‘alive’ hyperhuman symbols, contrasting with alternating portrayals of these same characters as ‘dead’ hypertechnological entities. Oscillations manufacture an uncanny and discordant yet enthralling player’s experience. By applying technogothic symbolism to Oxenfree , reinterpretation of Fisher’s foundational theorizing and linkages between translational meaning and power themes are revealed. A pathway for applying theoretical perspectives to future research is presented.