How Scent Paves the Way for the Next Frontier in Game Design
Over the years, gaming has evolved from frantically button mashing arcade pixels, to jaw-dropping 4K visuals at hundreds of frames per second, with thick layered soundscapes that pull us into both surreal and fantastic worlds. These mechanics work in concert to forge strong connections with characters and narratives and enable the most immersive digital storytelling experience to date, - BUT one of our largely untapped senses holds immense potential to take the very idea of “immersion” to new heights: our sense of smell. What if the digital realms we explore could also engage our memories and emotions directly, creating an even more profound and memorable connection? Understanding the science involved reveals why scent holds such a privileged position in our emotional lives and how this connection could revolutionize the way we experience games.
Sound like a fun gimmick? Actually, our sense of smell possesses a unique power to evoke vivid emotions and memories. When odor molecules enter our nasal passages, they bind to olfactory receptors located in the lining of the nose and relay electrical signals across our sensory neurons and directly into our brain. Unlike other senses like sight, sound, and touch, which have to pass through the thalamus first, olfactory signals take a more direct route to the limbic system - the region heavily involved in processing emotion and memory.
How did we evolve to process scent this way? One theory is our pre-historic brain adapted to “file” scents as part of our episodic memories, so we can quickly recall emotion and information from an experience based on a scent trigger when we need it to identify the approach of a friend or foe, or quickly detect a food or poison, or navigate unfamiliar darkness toward the smoke smell of our family’s campfire.
And, since odor-linked memories have the potential to be stored long-term, it allows scents to act as powerful triggers for recalling past experiences - even early childhood. This profound connection is often referred to as the “Proust Phenomenon” named after author Marcel Proust, who captured this experience in his novel, In Search of Lost Time, where a distinct, strong scent triggers a flood of childhood memories, leading to a recall of deeply emotional connections. This direct neural pathway into the limbic system helps ignite a strong physical response and contributes to heightened emotionality.
“Perfume is the art that makes memory speak.” - Master Perfumer, Francis Kurkdjian
Obviously, this potential for scent to deepen emotional connection in games is significant. Imagine… the smell of a forest as you pursue stormtroopers on a speeder through the woods of Endor or the smell of the ocean’s breeze as you sail across the sea in a quest for treasure.The many potential applications of this mechanic across genres (but particularly through storytelling), highlights the range of artistic and emotional depth that could be offered in this new frontier of game design.
While historical attempts to integrate scent into media have faced limitations (see our earlier blog on this here), recent academic and technical advances are enabling us at OVR Technology to offer new potential for storytelling invention for game developers. By strategically incorporating scents that align to game narrative and environment, developers can unlock FULL multisensory experiences that forge ever stronger and more memorable connections with players.