While the East End of Fantasy London is frequently centered on video games that speculate on the actions of Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper beyond their fictional and factual boundaries, or titles that invoke supernatural folkloric creatures in parallel world narratives, there are also games that focus on Modern London as it is presented in action adventure, gangster, and sport games. Here, the diegesis is designed to evoke or exaggerate the contemporary cultural and geographical realities of the modern spaces that they emulate, although with the East End being rarely the sole London location in these games, the depictions are further intensified or recombined for effect.
Just as the Kray brothers in film are presented as cultural objects of interest, the same occurs within video games, where the genre offers the player an opportunity to become embroiled in fictional London underworld narratives. Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 (1999), written by London born Dan Houser, is an expansion pack to the American themed Grand Theft Auto (1997). Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 borrows heavily from movies of the period, especially Michael Caine films such as The Italian Job (1969). While the game uses locations including Tower Bridge, Mile End, and Stratford, the impact of the East End is foregrounded in the frequent use of Cockney rhyming slang, with the game informing the player when they become “Brown Bread” (Dead)…
The full 1,100 word version of this article is published in the Encyclopedia of London’s East End, edited by Kevin A. Morrison, published by McFarland Books, 2022.
Carl Wilson 