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og:image, Community Quick Read, When Does a Game Need a Story?

This article is about a quick little thought that I had and it is exactly what the title says: at what point does a game need to have a story? It's not that I really intend to answer the question as much as I want to pass the question along and hear some opinions. You know, the whole food-for-thought thing.

The simple answer to the question would be that a game never NEEDS to have a story. For the most part, I would agree; having a story mode in Geometry Wars wouldn't exactly make me jump for joy. Although, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like, at a certain point, maybe a game DOES need a story. Does it have to do with length? A lengthy game does need something that makes the player want to continue but does it necessarily have to be a story? Games like Dark Souls and The Witness are both games that, on your first playthrough, you are going to spend a considerable amount of time on (those games DO have stories but I would argue that they are optional).

So the answer again is no. It does not have to be a story that keeps you invested; rather your own sense of accomplishment or something similar to it. So when I had that thought, another one struck my mind: Can every game give the player that same feeling? Does it only work for puzzle games and character action games with the difficulty cranked way up? Both of those games that I mentioned have a world that is open to you pretty much immediately so the question then becomes: How do you get the game characters from point A to point B if there isn't a story that guides them and the world isn't meant to be explored? I suppose at that point, the game just becomes an arcade game, something along the lines of Metal Slug. No explanations, no story, just a setting to add variety to the gameplay. Maybe it has to be high score OR story.

The more I think and write about this, the further down I keep digging myself. Maybe this question is doomed to just be an endless cycle of thoughts that you feel have an answer that is just out of reach. With every potential answer, I find a new question.

I would love to hear some examples of single player games without story that still manage to stay interesting.


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Comments

  • Fahrun Avatar
    Fahrun
    7 years, 8 months ago

    Keeping in mind games with bad storyline, would they benefit from the no story treatment?

  • hoss3000 Avatar
    hoss3000
    7 years, 8 months ago

    I typically am more invested in games without explicit stories or games with a story in which you unravel through levels of game play, item descriptions, or out-of-game research much like Dark Souls. I found this to be a really good read because I've actually wondered this question a lot. Why do so many game developers feel there has to be some kind of narrative or play involving voice-acting characters to tell the story to the player? I mean let's face it, sometimes these stories are not written by the best writers. And with games being so lengthy these days, I often get confused or lost in the story anyway. By the end of these games, I'm skipping cutscenes because the story no longer makes sense to me or I forgot what the point of the story was I was trying so hard to follow to begin with. Let the gamer tell their own story of what they are experiencing is what I say!