In today’s world creative writers wanting to tell a story are given an overwhelming assortment of options to express themselves. Storytellers are craftsmen, and the various types of media are their tools. Through the visual medium of movies and television or the textual formatting of books and comics, people now more than ever can convey a wide assortment of ideas, abstract or otherwise. But what if there was a way to further immerse the audience, a way for them to experience a narrative in the most literal sense? Lucky for us there is: videogames.
But why is this medium so underutilized with its wide narrative potential? Overall, interactive media such as videogames are relatively new in the grand scheme of artistic expression. The first published novel? 1719. The first aired radio drama? 1924. The first television broadcast? 1928. The first ever videogame, however? 1958. These games were a far cry from the hyper realistic Triple A releases of today, amounting to little more than two rectangles and a circle on a two-dimensional plane. Even after games became more powerful and could render more detailed objects, they cared far more about the gameplay itself rather than the context behind said gameplay. In this era, videogames were seen as nothing more than a form of entertainment, the virtual equivalent of throwing darts or playing pool with your friends. People in this time saw videogames as many things but a medium for a compelling narrative wasn’t one of them. That is until a new game emerged that would challenge what could be possible within the narrative of a videogame.
This title was a game called Colossal Cave Adventure released in 1976. This text-based video game broke new ground by being the first example of interactive media. In it players can explore an expansive cave system, interact with objects, and progress the story through their choices. This game was so influential it created its own genre, the Adventure Game genre, named after the title itself. It even went on to inspire other genres focusing far more on player choice and the environment, such as RPGs and educational games. Despite being an entirely textual title, this game showed the potential of how videogames could create a narrative unlike any other.
Although Colossal Cave Adventure was the beginning of interactive media, it would not be the end of the development of new features. Soon creators began to realize that videogames provided several unique qualities that separated itself from all other forms of media. These qualities include: the ability for interaction, unprecedented immersion, and repeatable experiences. For one videogames are an interactive medium, meaning that players have a direct impact on events and sometimes even plot of the game. In certain games the actions of the player can have huge ramifications, ranging from different endings to newly available abilities based on their choices alone. This interaction leads to further immersion as players become a proactive element in the narrative instead of a passive onlooker. The increased level of interaction creates an unparalleled sense of immersion, allowing for a greater suspension of disbelief in the audience. Both concepts coincide to create a unique experience unlike any other medium. Replaying the same game may offer new experiences, where in more linear narratives you get the same beginning, middle, and end every time. Videogames are to movies as is viewing a resort online is to actually being there. The interactivity allows for methods of storytelling unlike anything seen before.
However, there is a difference between a game with good gameplay and a game with a good narrative. A game can have a good narrative, but if the gameplay has no bearing on the story whatsoever then why bother even making it a videogame? Finding a game with a good narrative told through good gameplay is extremely difficult to come by. However not impossible. One such game is Dark Souls. This game is a fantasy RPG infamous for its soul crushing difficulty, grim atmosphere, and hidden narrative that players must uncover through exploration and gameplay. But what does this game do that makes it stand out amongst other games with compelling narratives? Where movies using lighting, sound design, and editing in cooperation with the story to draw in an audience, this game operates under different parameters.
Through the environment, what challenges you are facing, and even the mechanics you are using to interact can all mesh together in order to tell a compelling narrative about a world falling to decay and only you capable of putting an end to it all. The environment creates a sense of scale and alienation, these cathedrals and castles have fallen into decay and ruin reflecting the current state of the world. The player does not so much go through these buildings as they navigate around them. The intense difficulty of the game shows how inhospitable the world is, relaying to the player that they are in over their head, especially when they are one shot by the same undead skeleton they died to several times before. The boss fights can even tell a story in their self-contained arenas, their character design, attacks, and how the cutscene introduces them. All of these elements combine into a unforgettable game that using the potential of interactive storytelling to its fullest potential.
Despite all these potential advantages for creating a compelling narrative through videogames, there are some qualities inherit to the medium that must be addressed. For one, this is still a videogame. I have enjoyed plenty of videogames that were fun as games but had poor or no narratives at all, such as Godhand, League of Legends, or Sid Meier’s Civilization V. Unlike movies which need a compelling narrative, videogames are perfectly capable of being entertaining without it. In addition to this videogame are long, usually clocking in anywhere from eight hours to hundreds depending on the genre. Creating a compelling narrative that compels the player for that length of time is almost impossible, save for only the most ambitious of RPG’s. This leads to various forms of padding to fill in the spaces between the important narrative bits.
Tropes such as needing three keys in order to open a door, enemies always being where you need to go, and always finding health and ammo nearby make no sense from a narrative point of view but they do from a mechanical perspective. In addition, this narrative must be both fun to experience and fun to play in. Scenes that may work within a book or television episode may not translate well as an entertaining level, thus constraining the creative potential of developers. Even one of the genres greatest strengths can lead to unforeseen complications, as it is entirely possible for players to miss aspects of the game by simply deciding to turn left instead of right. Jerry, the environmental designer, spent a lot of time creating that forest for you to traverse through, and developers will sometimes strip away player control in order to make you appreciate it. Various limitations aside, videogames offer a gateway to stories that could never have been experienced before. With the development of technology such as VR headsets, the barrier between our world and the virtual is getting that much smaller. I’m looking forward to exploring the various other aspects of narrative design in gaming and specific games that exemplify characteristics such as the Ominous atmosphere of Darkwood or the weight of player choice in Fallout New Vegas. Hopefully these inspire you to look at narratives in videogames from a new and compelling perspective.
-Brandon Peck. Blogger.
Brandon Peck – Asst Blog Editor, Prose Editor, and Layout Editor: Brandon is a Senior at Lewis University. He holds a great interest in painting miniatures and writing stories in his spare time. In addition, he enjoys many different kinds of media, ranging from movies to anime to video games, always keeping up to date with the latest trends of the time. Some of Brandon’s favorite pieces of writing include Devastation of Baal, Baneblade, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, and Fallout: New Vegas.