![]() The product of essentially one developer’s genius, Toby Fox, Undertale subverted what we would expect from an RPG, offering us a choice between violent and pacifist paths. ![]() Undertaleblew people’s minds when it was released in 2015. Why should we be rewarded for killing? For most, the answer is: ‘because it’s always been that way’. There are four key games in particular I’d like to focus on that not only have amazing stories, but go the extra mile and entirely subvert our understanding of what storytelling can be. It’s easier than ever before for small studios using universally-available technology and engines to get games out there onto Steam, or to self-publish on the web, and as a result, we’ve had some incredible offerings the last few years. Some of the best examples of recent years have been in the realm of indie games, which is experiencing a kind of renaissance. Thankfully, there’s lots of work coming out which is beginning to do away with this crutch and subvert narratives in profound and emotional ways. Videogames need to rid themselves of the same old trope of killing things for progression. If a storyteller really wants to improve, they need to get rid of the things they rely on, their ‘crutch’. ![]() Richard Thomas, an incredible horror writer in the US who’s been published alongside Stephen King and many others, once described these narrative fall-backs as ‘crutches’ in his ACCW writing class. While conflict is important to narrative – and so much more – the relentless archetype of video game protagonists turning out to be be insane kleptomaniac murderers is harmful, because it limits the storytelling possibilities. Why? Well, perhaps it is because, as Kojima noted in his Rolling Stone interview, many videogames are still trapped in a narrative trope of hitting things we don’t like with big sticks. In addition, advances in gaming technology mean that large studios are able to compete with Hollywood for cinematic scale and graphical fidelity, and are even casting big-screen actors in lead roles as opposed to voice-talent (look no further than Kojima’s Death Stranding).īut, still, the viewpoint that videogames are not story-driven persists. Film directors borrow cinematography and ideas from games, and this goes hand-in-hand with the increasing number of movies adapted from videogames. It’s no surprise to me that many modern writers profess a love of videogames and draw on them for influence. Videogames don’t have a great reputation for story despite the fact that they have delivered some of the most captivating narratives of the last 20 years.
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