WALPURGIS: of witches,mountains and myths

Explorative games, often referred to as ‘walking simulators’ are characterised by their lack of action. They invite players to question predominant narratives that we have come to expect within video games, prioritising narration over action. This was the perfect format for Katharina Freiin von Stackelberg to interrogate the histories of the witch trials of 1596–97 in Bad Windsheim in Germany, specifically in the area around the forested ‘witches mountain’. Within a digital environment based on their own hikes captured by a 360º camera, Katharina layered the experience of walking with a narrative voiceover based on archival documentation of the trials and contemporary feminist theory, allowing space to reflect on how perceptions of otherness in the countryside fed the systematic persecution of women in the 16th Century.