In response to the issue that the utilization of architectural heritage in the industry often remains at the superficial level of visual symbol collage, the work aims to explore the value logic of architectural heritage translated into game mechanics in action role-playing games (ARPGs) from the perspective of player experience, analyze its pathway in the generation of immersive experiences, and reveal the mechanism by which scene resources are embedded into game structures. Three Souls-like ARPGs developed by FromSoftware, including Dark Souls III, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring, were selected as research subjects. Under the framework of immersion theory, grounded theory is employed to conduct a three-level coding analysis of player review data, identifying triggers of immersive experiences through a bottom-up approach. On this basis, the underlying game mechanism structures are inferred from experiential outcomes, and the value dimensions and translation pathways of architectural heritage are abstracted, constructing a "game scene-immersion mechanism" relation model. The architectural heritage collaboratively drives the generation of immersive experiences through three pathways: perception, challenge, and narrative. In the process of digital translation, it presents three core values: physical resource value lays the perceptual foundation in the sensory dimension, spatial structural value builds the gameplay framework in the challenge dimension, and cultural symbolic value carries meaning in the narrative dimension. In conclusion, architectural heritage does not merely function as visual material. Instead, through value reconfiguration, it becomes embedded within game mechanics and narrative systems, serving as an important structural resource for the generation of immersive experiences. This work reveals the translation pathways of architectural heritage in the context of digital games, bridges the design logic from visual resources to experiential mechanisms, and provides theoretical reference and practical guidance for the digital translation of cultural heritage.
Key words
architectural heritage /
digital translation /
immersive experience mechanisms /
action role-playing game (ARPG) /
grounded theory
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