With the recently released Beyond: Two Souls and first episode of The Wolf Among Us bringing new interactive story-telling experiences to gamers, I thought it would be a good time to explore stories in video games. As many of you who follow me know, story-telling in video games is something that is important to me. It is the first thing I discuss whenever I am giving my thoughts on a game and it is one of my main reasons I enjoy video games so much. Whether it be the classic games from years ago or more current titles like Mass Effect, the stories of video games are something I really love and I’m sure many other people do as well. So without further ado, let’s take a look at what makes video games such a special way of telling stories.
Ellen Page Stars In A New Story-Driven Game
When I was younger and I played through Sonic & Knuckles for the first time, I remember feeling amazed at the interactions between the characters after certain levels and boss fights. It was the first game I had played that scenes like that and even though there was no dialogue, I got a sense of each of the characters personalities. It was those moments combined with the fantastic gameplay that made the game one of my favorites to play. As technology progressed, we saw even more evolution in gameplay stories such as cutscenes and full voice-overs for characters. Games were now beginning to have the epic scope of films, but with great gameplay that tied everything together. Titles like Metal Gear Solid showed that games could intertwine the game mechanics with story progression that could rival a Hollywood film. While the acting in some video game titles may now have always been the best, there is no denying that many titles were ambitious in finding ways to the give the games meaning through their stories and a big hook for players to see their adventures through to the end.
Tales Like Journey Are Only Possible Through Video Games
What really separates story-telling in video games from other forms of media is its interactivity. While watching movies and reading books are fantastic in their own right, there is something about being able to control the key moments in video games that really gets me. There are experiences like in the game Journey that I believe are only possible through video games. Journey was able to tell a wonderful story through its visuals and music, but actually controlling your character through their trek and having interactions with other players is what really made that game special. Every step we took in that game was our own and when we reached the end of the Journey is made the story of our character all the more rewarding. Another thing that is pretty much exclusive to video game stories is the concept of choice. Many games have multiple endings or branching story paths that are a result of the choices your character has made throughout the game. Last year’s The Walking Dead brought hard choices for the player that shaped the character of Lee based on their decisions. Many of the game’s big choices were agonizing for me to make and few stories have gotten such a large emotional response from me. Being able to make choices in certain video game stories like this is truly an exciting thing as player’s experiences through the tales will vary, giving everyone a different outlook at how their story progressed. There are many exciting games that bring us stories that are only possible through this form of media.
Role-Playing Games Like Xenosaga Have Fantastic Stories
Many films have tried to recapture the magic of video games but they frequently fail to be on the same level as the source material. I believe it is because many games stories work so well in the format of an interactive experience that is hard to convert them to one were you are just an observer, I have great love for books, movies and television and I honestly believe that video games can stand equal among these as ways of story-telling. Some of my all-time favorite stories like that of Xenosaga are pretty much exclusive to video games. While I am absolutely thrilled to play games that are purely built for beating that next high score, the ones that are among the most memorable and most special to me, are the ones that told me fantastic stories that I was able to partake in. To me, that is what makes video games so extraordinary and why I plan on playing them for many years to come.
Unlimited Continues 