Video game development and design can be incredibly complicated but easily one of the greatest debates is the battle of gameplay vs narrative. Relatively new, video games represent an unusual area of interactive entertainment, in sharp contrast to other mediums such as film, television, books etc. and it can feel like video game designers are still trying to figure out the balance of gameplay and narrative. In recent years, I’ve heard an increasing number of opinions with regards to this debate and I decided that it was worth looking at this topic and share my own thoughts and opinions.
When it comes to video games vs other entertainment mediums, it is clear that gameplay is the single most defining aspect that distinguishes video games. The ability to interact with the world, characters, gameplay systems etc. isn’t possible in more traditional entertainment mediums, excluding board games, and this aspect is what most people will think of when they think of video games. However, as video games have become more and more technically complicated with greater graphics, audio, voice acting, etc., many video games have become progressively more and more story-driven.
In fact, as the video game medium has continued to develop, we have started to see more and more games that feature relatively basic gameplay and an increased focus on narrative. Excellent examples would be the choice-driven games from Telltale but also a type of game that the video game community has derogatively referred to as “Walking Simulators“. These games are driven by narrative and exploration, typically having the player walk from place to place with very little in the form of gameplay mechanics. Many famous examples of this type of game include The Stanley Parable, Firewatch, Gone Home and many others. Many video gamers look down on these games as glorified movies, lacking the gameplay that they seek when it comes to video games.
Another interesting case of narrative vs gameplay comes in the form of “Ludonarrative Dissonance”. Compounding the term ludology, the study of games, and narrative dissonance, it refers to when a game’s narrative conflicts with the gameplay. An excellent example, as well as the first that I came across, comes from the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. A big part of the marketing for the game centred around the fact that the game would be an origin story, seeing how Lara Croft became the tomb raider she would later become. A specific section of the game centres around when Lara Croft has to kill someone for the first time. She is visibly distressed afterwards but the game soon demands the player, with Lara Croft as their avatar, to kill potentially hundreds of other people and, while all these people are a threat to Lara Croft, the topic of Lara Croft being distressed by her killings isn’t touched upon again in the rest of the game. While the game was critically acclaimed overall, I still see this aspect of the game debated again and again to this day.
When it comes to my own personal opinions on gameplay vs narrative, they’re quite mixed. On one hand, I understand the position that video games should try to be less like films and expand on the elements that make them distinct. An excellent example of a way to tell a story through gameplay would be the Dark Souls series which sees you experience the story by observing the world and enemies, listening to brief dialogues with NPCs and reading the descriptions of the items you pick up. While abstract as far as storytelling is concerned, this method of storytelling proved to be quite popular with gamers.
On the other hand, the first game to have a profound impact on me was Final Fantasy IV and my favourite game of all time is Final Fantasy IX. These games are very narrative driven and feature plenty of cutscenes where the player has to read through dialog, similar to a book, and watch a scene play out, like a film. While certainly featuring more gameplay than the walking simulators that I mentioned earlier, there is no getting around the fact that these games focus heavily on story with Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, famously stating “I don’t think I have what it takes to make a good action game. I think I’m better at telling a story.”
I understand that many people have strong opinions when it comes to gameplay vs narrative but, excluding ludonarrative dissonance, I’ve come to appreciate both sides with many of my favourite games being either gameplay heavy or narrative heavy. Let me know your thoughts on gameplay vs narrative: the greatest battle throughout video game development, whether you prefer gameplay or narrative, whether you’re like me and like to play a combination of both types of games and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.