Heryland

The three previous posts on this blog were originally designed to represent a cohesive discussion of the different ways developers can use videogames to convey a story to the audience, however due to some extra time I have decided to add at least one side point to discuss the relationship between narrative and play. This post will focus on narrative made largely through player choice in a situation where said story is not intentionally provided by developers.

Let’s start with a personal example of self made story within a story based game. I remember when Elden Ring first released, I showed up to a class and chatted with a friend, and the game came up. However, what I found interesting is we both told stories about the vastly different journeys we had both been on within the game, as if we were describing completely different stories. Due to our ability to both build very different characters, and our ability to explore the world in our own way led to entirely different narratives.

Now, we were both bound by the main story of Elden Ring to some extent. On one level, we were both encouraged to focus on the main story, so our narratives had clear crossovers, and on another level we both started in the same area of the same world, so at the very least our settings were the same. It is very rare for a game to overcome this.

One example of a game that takes a step further away from providing any narrative is Minecraft. The game puts the player in a randomly generated world and gives them no story or incentive through quests, meaning that players are free to do what they please within the sandbox. There is always bound to be crossover when players discuss unique experience with Minecraft, as doing specific notable tasks like exploring “the Nether”, a sort of hell dimension, create clear points of comparison. The game also plays the end credits after defeating “the Ender Dragon”, which implies an end to the story (it is worth noting that Minecraft does not stop you from playing after doing so). That said, the game once again leads to entirely unique stories between players, as the game is randomly generated (and lacking in incentive) enough for every playthrough to be different. While this storytelling does not allow for as much creator control over theme, it instead gives it to players who, likely without realising, craft a more personal story.

Player involvement is the key difference between videogames and all other artistic mediums. Previously, this blog has gone over how this affects the audience experience in a fairly surface level way, but this post will go over how the theme of a game can be uniquely expressed through the medium, especially when games lack linearity in both gameplay and narrative.

Much as individual players will have unique experiences of the character they play through their own gameplay, they may also reach their own conclusions on the themes of a game through what they experience. Once again, the works of FromSoftware are excellent at creating an individualistic thematic experience for this. Dark Souls III is a great example, as many key details in the story are hidden in secret areas and behind completion of side quests.

The goal of Dark Souls III, on the surface, is to “link the first flame” to continue “the Age of Fire”, which is the same goal as the first game in the franchise. However, whilst the time since the first game is never stated, it is heavily implied that the age of fire has been prolonged for an unnatural amount of time: characters and landscapes are rotting and decaying, and the first flame (which was a large fire in the first instalment) is now a tiny ember if linked. Through finding a secret item and giving it to a specific character, the player can find an alternate ending where you refuse to link the first flame and bring about a new age (“the Age of Dark”). There is also an even more convoluted path to another secret ending, wherein you become the ruler of “the Age of Hollows”. What is interesting about these hidden endings, is each one changes the context of the others. The Age of Dark ending paints the first ending as a negative conclusion, when that may not be clear without the context of the second ending, and the Age of Hollows ending reveals a broader context of the world, as it suggests a vying for control over the next age that again is less clear without discovering the ending.

All of this creates very different impressions of the game to each player, as somebody who only sees the first ending and does little exploration of side content will remain unaware of the potential better/worse endings. Now, an interesting question to raise here is whether the undiscovered content still informs the themes of the game or if whatever the player experiences is all that matters for their discussion of the game’s themes. If undiscovered content matters, then the game must always be viewed as a complete artistic statement, where it is irrelevant what the player experiences, and all that matters is that the player can experience everything. If not, then a videogame must be seen as more as a tool for letting the player reach personal conclusions on the subjects discussed.

To me, it depends on the game. A game like Dark Souls III works best as a complete experience, with details undiscovered by the player still being worth considering when discussing what the game is saying. However, a game like Silent Hill 2, which tells a far more personal story, is perhaps more interesting if the individual player experience is given more thought, as the player’s behaviour reflects the protagonist’s conclusions in the story, so only considering what the player is aware of can create an interesting discussion regarding how they consider the game’s artistic statement. This can also apply well to RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas, due to the encouragement of player choice.

For some games, the mere fact that there are multiple endings or content likely to go undiscovered by the player is what matters. Most clearly, games like The Stanley Parable uses branching paths as a primary point of the gameplay, with the incentive to keep playing being replay value, to find new endings. Other games such as Outer Wilds, which focuses on exploring a miniature galaxy over and over again in a groundhog day styled situation, the potential inability a player has to discover everything the game offers in itself offers an interesting point of analysis.

In the previous post, I outlined how videogames can use the setting to convey a narrative, but it is also important to note the importance that player choice can have in a story. Some games are built around this idea, such as the work of Telltale Games (most famously their Walking Dead series), while some do very little to give the player direct involvement in the narrative, which is not to say players have no effect.

As previously mentioned, The Walking Dead is a great example of overt player involvement in narrative, as it is designed entirely around letting the player make decisions (both big and seemingly small) on behalf of the protagonist. This creates a clear investment from the audience in the protagonist’s story, as not only do you relate to them, but through making choices for the playable character the line between audience member and protagonist is blurred.

Role Playing Games (RPGs) also have some of the clearest examples of player involvement in the narrative. Many RPGs feature a character creation system, and/or let the player decide how the protagonist will behave throughout the story. The effect of this is in the name; by allowing control over the main character even down to their appearance, Role Playing Games let the player immerse themselves within the fantasy of existing within the setting. In some cases, this afforded choice can appear illusory, as giving the player a set of choices can feel limited if the player wants to do something the choices don’t cover, highlighting the game’s limitations (ironically more than entirely linear games, as the lack of choice in those often remove the thought of player freedom from the audience entirely).

Something worth acknowledging is subtle effect that the player has over the their relationship to the narrative in theoretically linear experiences. In first person shooters like Halo’s single player campaigns the player is essentially walked through the story with no choice: to finish the game, the protagonist “Master Chief” is required to shoot hordes of aliens in specific locations, laid out chronologically. However, even though the plot itself cannot be changed, the player has a surprising amount of control over smaller details that can change their view of the experience. One player may try to stick to long range weapons, changing Master Chief into an elite sniper figure, whilst others may play the role of a duellist through the use of pistols and shotguns. Some players might charge through the story and take it very seriously, rarely taking damage, whereas others might slowly walk through each level, joking around and almost dying at every turn. In the first example, Halo is a serious action epic, yet in the other it is an action/slapstick comedy, despite the written narrative remaining unchanged. Each player will view Halo differently because of the behaviour they demonstrated when controlling Master Chief.

When discussing narrative opportunities provided by the videogame format, perhaps the clearest example is the use of environmental storytelling. This is where the level design is used for exposition, instead of dialogue and character action telling the story. Many games do this mostly for the sake of worldbuilding, and still tell their stories through character action. Bioshock, for example, uses environmental storytelling to explain the backstory of each level’s boss, and give information about the setting, but it still features plenty of dialogue and action that drives the story.

Of course, this is not unique to the medium of videogames: Any artistic medium that can depict a setting is capable of environmental storytelling. Due to the player’s ability to control a protagonist, however, and therefore to explore and fixate upon elements of the world at their own pace, it is uniquely positioned to greater emphasise worldbuilding and narrative through setting. Games made by FromSoftware, such as Dark Souls and Bloodborne, are well known for their cryptic narratives, as little information is directly given to the player. Instead, information is given to the player as a reward for exploration, incentivising focus and engagement with the world. Hiding key plot details in Bloodborne, such as the secret boss “Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos” within established areas, such as the Upper Cathedral Ward, reveals the religious organisations connections to the creature, and explaining where they are obtaining the alien blood that is corrupting the city, or at least one source of it.

An interesting consistency between games that emphasise environmental storytelling is the apocalypse, societal collapse, or some form of abandoned space. This makes sense, as it is intriguing to present a player with such a setting without directly clarifying why the location is as it is, creating a mystery for the player to unravel. Such settings also typically lack many (friendly) NPCs, so it is harder to have a character give direct exposition without it feeling forced.

The ability to emphasise environmental storytelling in videogames is certainly a strength of the medium, as the player’s involvement in exploration will likely keep them engaged in a way that they may not be if simply watching a film or reading a book. A two hour film where a silent protagonist explores a post apocalyptic city with no dialogue would not reach a large audience, but plenty of games give the player exactly that experience for longer periods of time, and it is more engaging.