ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses visual and sonic representations of metaleptic transgressions in two horror games that, due to their clear and rich references to cinema and television, can be described as cinematic in more than one meaning of the word. First, the critically acclaimed Alan Wake 2 is discussed in terms of its superimpositions of one image on another to showcase the moments in which both characters and locations attempt an ontological metalepsis. Second, the complex, continuous, and fluid overlaps of identities in Layers of Fear 2 are discussed as an example of visual and sonic metalepsis that blurs the lines between the fictional realities up to the point where they are no longer distinguishable from one another. The name of palimpsestic metalepsis is proposed for these transgressions, signaling both the ontological equality of two locations or realities and the paradoxical character of the transgression.
