Sometimes, it's what you don't say

When someone talks about good storytelling in video games, they'll often mention games that feature heavy doses of dialogue and lengthy cut scenes interspersed throughout the game. RPGs like the Final Fantasy series are known for doing this to great effect, creating a believable world and engaging characters, while the interactive elements make the player feel part of the story.

Dialogue, though, in its spoken or written form, is a relatively recent addition to video games, and it's a device borrowed from literary forms. Cut scenes similarly borrow from cinema. Back in 1978, however, Space Invaders was introduced to arcades. Did it have a plot? Sure. Aliens are invading, and it's your job to defend Earth. It may not be the most sophisticated of storylines, but it's there, and we learn about it through the gameplay. There's no opening cinematic, and not a line of dialogue in sight.

Back then, limitations of the form meant stories had to be told in this way, while more recent games have a much wider range of techniques and devices available to them. The minimalist approach, however, is far from extinct. A number of games continue to use gameplay, often with little or no dialogue, to tell stories, experimenting with the way in which devices unique to video games can create an experience not found in any other medium. I wrote a post about Yume Nikki last year, a game that was described as "a poem written in a video game", but in recent years there has been a trend of games that offer a similar experience. I've compiled a list of some of my favourites for your perusal.


Small Worlds
Type: free flash game
Length: 5 minutes

The less you know about this one before you play it, the better, so I won't say too much here. You control the main character, a faceless stack of three pixels with the ability to move left and right, and to jump. The object of the game is exploration. At the beginning, your world is small, and what lies beyond is only darkness. As you discover your surroundings, the camera slowly zooms out and you begin to get an idea of where you are. As you explore, you find teleporters that take you to other worlds, and exploring each of these is the key to discovering exactly where you are and what's going on.

Link: Small Worlds

Loved
Type: free flash game
Length: 5 minutes

The creator of the game describes Loved as "a short story in the form of a flash platformer". While you play, you are given instructions by an unknown character. The instructions appear only as text on the screen, and it is unclear whether or not this person is a friend. Either way, you have two choices: to obey, or to disobey. Both of these have their consequences, and the decision rests with you.

Link: Loved

The Path
Type: commercial (independent)
Length: 5-10 hours

The Path is a video game based on the several early versions of Little Red Riding Hood. Each of the six characters you can choose from offer a different interpretation of the story. After choosing a character, you are given the instruction, "Go to Grandmother's house. And stay on the path."

Staying on the path allows the girl to reach Grandmother's house safely. Leaving the path, on the other hand, gives you a chance to explore, learning about each character by their reactions to the objects you find littering the forest floor. You can also collect memories by interacting with objects. However, there is, of course, a danger when straying from the path. Doing so, you are likely to encounter the big bad wolf, who will take on a different form depending on your character. After meeting the wolf, the girl will find Grandmother's house drastically changed, and will wander through rooms filled with distorted versions of her memories.

As the creators, Tale of Tales, have stated, this is not a game to be played in the traditional sense. In a way, the aim is to lose; to complete the game, you must encounter a wolf with each of the six girls. Rather than saving them from this fate, the player can only watch as the narrative unfolds. The only goal is to explore, learning as much as possible about the characters and discovering the story behind each one.

If this game isn't an argument in favour of video games as art, I don't know what is.

Website: The Path (Tale of Tales)