Two Kinds of Time

The cinematic feeling is time extended. The ludic feeling is time repeated and held still. This is why some narrative games resist adaptation into film, and why some films resist adaptation into narrative games. Stardew Valley is repetition and stagnation, so it would not survive as a film. Run Lola Run wears the shell of a loop, yet it remains time extended, which is why it cannot become a game. Television complicates the picture further. Stardew Valley could work as a multi-episode sitcom, while True Detective would be hard to turn into a game.

Some works carry both feelings at once. In Disco Elysium, the early exploration of the plot and its repeated trial and error are what make it un-cinematic. Then, when the two protagonists take the boat to the island, the player feels the cinematic again.