Celeste isn't here because it's firstly a Platform game. For instance The Last of Us isn't here because it is primarily a Shooting Adventure game. We aren't including games with strong narrative if the main way you interact with the game is through Puzzles, Role-Playing, Adventuring or the other common genres. We also include games that other sites might lump in with Adventures, although for us these game are more about what is said and revealed on the way that the journey itself. We are including games that would elsewhere be called Walking Simulators, although for us these are narratives told through exploration. Their monthly newsletter is a great way to stay up to date about all things narrative gaming. We've worked with The Narrative Outlook newsletter ( subscribe here) to create a list of games that focus first on the narrative genre. Whether you are exploring a living breathing world, making choices that impact the story or even just deciding how things are said, narrative is the thing you are working with. However, some games use narrative as the way you interact with the game. We often talk about video games not only being entertainment because they are a new way to tell stories. The games in this list use these two things to create experiences that engage on a deeper level. Voices and choices are a large part of what it means to be human. These games use the immersion of the human voice and branching stories to create engaging experiences. Then there are games for older players like Detroit: Become Human, Last Stop, Grand Theft Auto, Twelve Minutes and Heavy Rain combine branching stories and fully voiced characters. Other games like South of the Circle, Before Your Eyes, Firewatch and It Takes Two offer fully voiced experiences with choices that don't create new endings but still add a sense of involvement. Games like the Frog's Princess, King of Dragon Pass and Call of the Sea offer a story-book feel with branching narrative that can be a novel way for younger players to discover the joy of stories. For former reduces friction for the player. Choices have a tangible effect on how things turn out. While some video games revel in the density and effort required to discover the narrative in their virtual worlds, others want to make it as easy and accessible to make their story your own. We might not always agree with the reasons or ethics, but we have a chance to revisit our values as we play. Playing them, we face the messiness of real-world justice and consider the power of withholding the truth. The games in this list challenge our neat conceptions of right and wrong. Whether it's not telling Ellie the truth about her unique response to the infection so she can have a 'normal' life in The Last Of Us, lying about who's drugs they are to save a friend in Life Is Strange, deciding not to be honest with friends to save their feelings and avoid confrontation in Oxenfree or rearranging an old man's memory so he thinks he's made it to his dream in To The Moon, telling lies is sometimes the right thing to do. There are many games where you are challenged to make difficult decisions and some of those put you in situations without power, where the kindest thing to do is to lie. Of course, real life isn't neat and tidy like that.

Video games often place you in positions of power, saving the world, righting the wrongs and bringing justice. What is broken in the space the game creates, and how/if it can be fixed. How other characters (and the world itself sometimes) reacts to your presence. The way that levers and buttons interact. Half caught sentences from passing characters. The narrative of video games is not usually told (like in books) or shown (like in films) but overheard. Less obviously, games can also communicate narrative through how they Simulate the world, what needs solving in Puzzles or even the Strategies players need to employ. Games can use Adventure, Action and Role-Playing to communicate elements of story to players. The best examples intertwine gameplay and storytelling, rather than interspersing short films ('Cut Scenes) between levels. Learning from the power of books and films, these games string together interactions not for excitement or competition but for storytelling beats. Narrative video games focus on telling a story about characters, worlds and themes. In this entry we are looking at Narrative games.

This is designed for people new to gaming, and aims to identify games with the least barriers. In this series, we are learning how different aspects of video games work by playing games that offer an easy introduction to this one concept.

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