One time when I was playing Rez¹ my consciousness seemed to split. There was the me playing the game, and then there was the me observing the me playing, spectating my own gameplay. By the time I had reached that point, gameplay seemed almost automatic. The enemies seemed to practically fly into my reticle, to be shot down immediately upon appearing. I realized I was somehow blocking my conscious focus from commenting on how I'm playing and offering corrections, leaving my unconscious free to actually do the work of targeting and shooting, as well as my conscious mind free to sit back and enjoy the ride. It was an unprecedented experience of total concentration on a task.
A further mindblow occurred when I realized that this is a thematic element in the game. In the upper left corner of the screen is a "system log" that describes what you're doing and names the things you're shooting down, that can be said to represent the mind's "narrator". But you almost never look at it because you're more concerned with what's happening on the screen. Steering your attention to the log means you'll lose focus on the actual gameplay.
Rez is like that. It's almost a metacommentary on the experience of playing it, and experience in general, sometimes. Everyone should play it.
A further mindblow occurred when I realized that this is a thematic element in the game. In the upper left corner of the screen is a "system log" that describes what you're doing and names the things you're shooting down, that can be said to represent the mind's "narrator". But you almost never look at it because you're more concerned with what's happening on the screen. Steering your attention to the log means you'll lose focus on the actual gameplay.
Rez is like that. It's almost a metacommentary on the experience of playing it, and experience in general, sometimes. Everyone should play it.
¹ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rez_(video_game)