Return to the Pre-Modern: Mechanics Archeology of Fulu in Video Games

Abstract

Video games frequently revive pre-modern magical thinking despite their modern computational infrastructure. Focusing on the fulu (Daoist talisman), this article employs “mechanics archeology” to examine its digital translation. Through a close reading of Devotion, the study reveals how the fulu constructs ontological horror through strict adherence to site-specificity. In counterpoint, global titles such as Naraka: Bladepoint and Genshin Impact demonstrate an alternative destiny of decontextualization. The article argues that the digital fulu represents a recoding based on procedural rhetoric where algorithmic units displace theological contracts. The talisman thus evolves from a medium of invocation into a floating signifier. This analysis reveals how video games serve as a medium of TechGnosis that reconstructs the isomorphism between algorithmic logic and magical thinking, realizing a secular re-enchantment within the virtual heterotopia.

Keywords

Daoist talisman mechanics archeology techno-animism re-enchantment video games

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