How Good Can Videogame Stories Get?

One of the biggest topics in gaming over the past few years is the evolution of how videogames are becoming more like movies, some see this as a positive because it shows the evolution and progression of gaming, while others see it as a negative saying that it represents a culture that is trying to change itself into something it isn't. I personally see it as a positive, but I don't think videogames are changing in the way people think they are. Games aren't becoming more like movies, they're just adapting elements from that medium to improve themselves, movies are atmospheric and have deep and complex characters and beautiful imagery and morals and themes that reflect society, gaming saw that and said "hey, why don't we do that? But let's do it better". The average movie is around 2 hours long, 3 hours at a stretch, any more than that and you're definitely pushing your luck, but story cantered games are usually around 8-12 hours long, while RPG's and other gameplay & exploration focused narratives can go beyond that, and likewise games that are made just for simple fun or to pass the time can be much shorter, the point being, videogames don't really have a limit on their narrative time span, they can take as long as they want to explore whatever they want. Movies have 2 hours to introduce our characters, give them a personality, give them an arc, do this with several other characters, give us a plot and exposition and depending on the genre it might also have to throw in some action scenes just to keep the audience invested, movies have just too much to tackle in a short time span, this is why we're in a renaissance of television and gaming, because the narratives and quality can expand more allowing for a more detailed and enriching world and characters.

So then we ask the question, how good can videogame stories get and how far can they go? Well given that they don't have a specific time span, they also don't follow a basic narrative structure, for example a 3 act structure, though some do follow this, they normally encompass a lot more than your usual 3 act structures. Take for example The Last of Us, a roughly 14 hour long story and has two main characters and seven supporting characters, all of which are used to reflect the ideologies and arcs of our main characters, for example Tess represents Joel's dark side, Bill is a reminder of why Joel always finds something to fight for and Tommy is a shadow of his former life. Given the time span this is a story that could have worked very well as a book or mini-series, but it is at its best as a game, and the reason why is very simple.

You can try as hard as you want to make us connect to the characters, give them detailed personalities, deep stories, relatable ideologies, there's a lot you can do and will most likely succeed. But the simplest methods sometimes work the best, and it's something only games can do, give the viewer control. (spoilers ahead) at the start of the game the first person you control is Joel's daughter Sarah, that means our instant connection is made with her, we latch onto her and then see the world through her eyes, after she hurts her leg we then take control of Joel, we now see things from his point of view, his goal is to protect his daughter, thus, this is our goal, so by the end of the first level when Sarah has died, we feel depressed on two different levels, one because it's like a part of us is gone with her and because we feel like a failure for being unable to keep her safe, it's a double knockout and you can't get this from any other medium.

But it's more than just story & exposition to developing characters, but it's also the downtime you spend with them, a story can't always be on point, there needs to be some point where you just sit down and talk with the characters without their lives being in immediate danger or any development is made to the plot, because these scenes aren't about enriching the story, they're about enriching the characters. For example in Terminator 2 in between the fight scenes we get John Connor trying to teach the T-800 how to behave more human. In Zombieland we have characters telling us their backstories while playing a board game, in The Incredibles we see Bob interact and play with his family. It's because of scenes like this which what makes us so connected to these characters and these are normally the best scenes to try and develop them, so can videogames achieve this? Well, yes & no.

Not every story offers the chance to have a sit down and talk with the characters, in games or movies, but usually games have a lot more opportunities to do this. The sit down scenes take place in-between all the action, and what scenes take place in-between the action in videogames? Cutscenes, this is the point where we can relax which also gives the characters a chance to relax, like in Uncharted for example or Halo, they aren't always used to give us the sit down moments, but they are the easiest place to do it. Another great location is the HUB, especially in RPG's this is when the sit down moments come up a lot, mostly because you choose what you want to talk about, learn more about a character's history or their opinions on certain subjects, the topics are in your control for the optimal sit down experience, like in Mass Effect or The Walking Dead or X-Men Legends.

So overall, how good can videogame stories get? Well considering that they're better paced, have more opportunities for development and have taken all the best elements of movies and improved on them to a level that they never could achieve. Combine this with the level of connection that you have for your characters that you can only get in gaming, as far as I can tell, storytelling in gaming can only get better from here on out.

-Danny