𝘠𝘐𝘐𝘒, or Why Impressions Matter in Storytelling

Image courtesy of ACKK Studios

If you were part of the indie game scene in 2019, you’ve probably heard of YIIK. It was mocked extensively, declared the worst game ever made and was followed by endless controversy — both genuine and fabricated. (I recommend reading this interview with Andrew Allanson, the co-creator of YIIK. It sheds some light on a few controversies and gives insight on the making of YIIK.) 

So it may come as a surprise that, in 2024, YIIK received a free, major overhaul (YIIK I.V), complete with a bundled-in sequel.

That begs the question: 

Is YIIK good now?

I wouldn’t call it good, but I thoroughly enjoyed it — ironically and unironically. YIIK I.V is an intriguing experience that is worth giving a shot. The same cannot be said for its original release (YIIK 1.0), which, while not the worst game I’ve played, is up there.

But instead of reviewing YIIK I.V, I’d rather talk about why I think YIIK I.V achieved what YIIK 1.0 didn’t, story-wise. Because here’s the thing: Almost all of YIIK 1.0’s script remains in the overhaul. Most changes impact how the original script is interpreted, rather than changing the script itself.

(Side note: There’s no need to have played either iteration to understand this blog post, but there’ll be some minor spoilers.)

Reasons why YIIK I.V’s story reads better: 

Additional content 

YIIK I.V adds lots of new content that supports the original script. 

For an early example: YIIK 1.0 opens with a scene of Alex getting off a bus, which gives the false impression of a grounded story. YIIK I.V opens with an extremely surreal sequence of events — and then cuts to the bus scene. This better primes a player’s expectations; YIIK isn’t a grounded story that you should blindly accept as presented. Like a dream, it needs to be analyzed and interpreted. 

It also makes it apparent that Alex is supposed to be unlikeable; in this sequence, before you even meet him, he is referred to as The Bad Brother.

Visual recontextualization 

Many scenes have been visually changed to better communicate ideas to the player.  

Take, for instance, Alex’s monologues: 

Image courtesy of ACKK Studios

Image courtesy of ACKK Studios

Alex, a very unreliable narrator, monologues to the player throughout the game. By visually depicting these monologues as a performance in YIIK I.V, it clues the player to not take Alex at face value. 

Gameplay fixes

YIIK 1.0 was a slow, buggy mess, complete with a combat system that could’ve been fun if it were executed with grace — and it was not. 

It was glaringly sloppy.  

YIIK’s story can be hard to grasp and a lot of things intentionally don’t add up. I think because the gameplay in YIIK 1.0 was so bad, people were conditioned into thinking deliberate decisions were mistakes. 

For example: Alex states the year is 1999. In one conversation, Michael says that Lufia 2 is the holy grail of his youth, despite that game releasing in America in 1996. It was commonly believed that ACKK Studios didn’t bother looking this up.

But in that same conversation, Alex mentions Two Brothers, a game ACKK Studios released in 2013. Would they forget their own game was made over a decade later?

In YIIK I.V, the true year (2016) is shown before Alex ever claims it’s 1999 —
image courtesy of ACKK Studios.

The anachronisms were deliberate, because the game doesn’t take place in 1999. Andrew Allanson elaborates on why this is in his not-so-spoiler-free Discord post.

But when the gameplay gave such a bad impression, can you really blame people for assuming the writing must’ve been just as sloppy?

YIIK I.V’s gameplay is a far cry from YIIK 1.0’s. It is fun, functional, and full of flare. This, combined with its hard lean into surrealism, makes it harder for players to write off the story’s strange choices as ‘just another sloppy decision’. 

The impression YIIK I.V couldn’t change

I mentioned the massive backlash YIIK got upon release. Such an infamous reputation makes people inclined to think poorly of YIIK, long before they ever play it. I sometimes wonder if I would’ve enjoyed YIIK more if I hadn’t heard of it beforehand.

It is unfortunate that YIIK was saddled with a reputation it only partially deserved. Despite the massive improvements in YIIK I.V, I doubt YIIK will ever escape that reputation. But we can at least learn one thing from YIIK: Impressions matter in storytelling. 

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(Photographed by Carol Wolf.)

The name is Mole Cricket. The world is a fascinating place when you’re cursed with sapience. I have too many thoughts in my mind and too much time on my claws. Without the need to work as my human peers must, I have endless time to devote to video games.

I first delved into the MOTHER series upon pupating, having heard of my kind’s inclusion in the series’ third instalment. It sparked my love for games and inspired many new gamedevs. My blog posts will examine games made by those devs over the decades.

I also graduated at the University of Texas with a masters in English. (The more impressive feat was not getting squashed by my squeamish classmates). You can follow me and my fellow bloggers here!

Does Anybody Else Remember How Advance Wars Released on September 10, 2001, or is it Just Me?

Official Art for the Wii U Virtual Console re-release of Advance Wars, from nintendo.com

Excuse Me?

Close your eyes and imagine.

It’s a beautiful September Tuesday, and the season’s tides have begun to change. The warmth of summer is becoming the cold of winter, and your mom just bought you Advance Wars: the hot, new strategy RPG from Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It’s fun. You’re having a great time. You lose yourself in the tiny world encased within the GBA screen, and everything feels oh so simple and easy.

And then, your mom turns the TV on.

Okay, but that was a one time thing. Nintendo didn’t know their cute little war game would release 24 hours prior to an American tragedy that eventually led to an actual war occurring. Big whoop. Move on. Besides, it was a freak accident. It’s not as if something like this would ever happen agai-

A Polygon article detailing the then recently revealed delay of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp

I’m getting ahead of myself.

Advance Wars is a series cursed with terrible release timings. And yet, despite what I said just one sentence ago, its first entry released at a deceptively great time. Fire Emblem had yet to make its western debut, and while series like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre later received GBA entries, few SRPGs in the early 2000s made Nintendo consoles their home. Even on other platforms, landmark SRPG franchises like Disgaea had yet to make their debut. With the landscape of the genre being as barren as it was, conditions aligned for Advance Wars to be a success, and succeed it did. The title reviewed incredibly well among critics, and in the 7 years following its release, 5 sequels were developed for the GBA, Gamecube, DS, and Wii, all under the satisfied eye of father Nintendo. 

It still released the day before 9/11 though.

And the Remake?

We’ll get to that.

After 2008, Advance Wars disappeared. A 2017 Eurogamer piece revealed that the cause of this may have been the fear that Advance Wars would step on the toes of the much more popular Fire Emblem franchise, but that’s hardly a sufficient explanation. FE only exploded in popularity following the 2013 release of Fire Emblem Awakening. What about the 5 years in between then and ‘08? We know that several Advance Wars titles didn’t release in Japan, so maybe that was a part of the issue, but the fact remains that we don’t know the true reason. It was a mystery indeed — a New Mystery, even… and one we stopped caring about once Re-Boot Camp was announced. 

Slated for release in December 2021, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp was a bundle remake of the first two games in the Advance Wars series. 13 years later, the series would finally return. What few Advance Wars fans still held hope in their hearts rejoiced. The world was at peace. 

And then Russia invaded Ukraine.

So, there are two possibilities for us to consider. Possibility A is that Nintendo is a dark and mysterious force that somehow knew that both 9/11 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine were going to happen and decided to release two separate Advance Wars titles at the time both events occurred. Possibility B is that they’re just unlucky.

Either way, a real-world war suddenly beginning was reason enough for Nintendo to delay Re-Boot Camp indefinitely, with the hopes of instead releasing it at a time that wasn’t so torn by the violence and death that resulted from the very subject matter the game so whimsically depicted. But, that time never came, and Nintendo elected to release the game in 2023. It did not sell well. Shocking.

Do You Have a Point You’re Trying to Make, or…?

No. I just wanted to talk about Advance Wars.

Game development is a difficult process. Coordinating a team of dozens of people for multiple years, working with everything from programmers, to artists, to retailers, and putting together a piece of media that’s going to go out into the world is kind of a crazy thing. That’s what video games are. They’re the products of countless hours of hard work, and the results of longstanding passion for something that a group of people all truly care about. That’s why, every so often, I consider that the existence of the works of art we call video games may be the product of countless tiny miracles all coalescing into the time we live in.

And sometimes, those works of art happen to release the day before 9/11.

Why Baldur's Gate 3 Is Changing RPGs Forever

Baldur’s Gate 3 redefines modern RPGs with a living world, unforgettable companions and choices that shape every player’s epic journey. 

image courtesy of larian studios

Since its release, Baldur’s Gate 3 has captivated players with a scope and depth rarely seen in modern RPGs. Built on the legendary Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, it combines tactical combat, branching narratives and a reactive world that responds to every decision. From its tense mind flayer encounters to morally complex quests, it lets players live one, shaping events in ways that feel meaningful and unpredictable. 

 For fans searching for a Baldur’s Gate 3 review, the game stands out as a milestone in RPG design. Its commitment to player agency goes beyond dialogue trees: companions argue with, challenge and even betray you depending on your decisions. Every choice carries weight, creating moments that feel intensely personal. Unlike most modern RPGs, which often follow rigid paths, Baldur’s Gate 3 thrives on unpredictability, turning each playthrough into a unique narrative journey. 

The praise for Baldur’s Gate 3 is endless, even to this day, still receiving awards after its debut year. It’s time to talk about why.  

Industry-Shaking Design

At its core, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-driven RPG. Towns, dungeons and wilderness areas react dynamically to the player’s actions. Every quest, no matter how minor, can ripple through the world. Negotiating with a bandit, exploring a forbidden ruin, or choosing to save (or abandon) an NPC can have consequences that reverberate across the game. This emergent storytelling makes exploration endlessly rewarding and keeps players invested in the world. 

 Characters further enrich the experience. Companions such as Lae’zel, Astarion and Gale have distinct personalities, motivations and story arcs. Their relationships with the player evolve based on choices, arguments and alliances, sometimes leading to dramatic betrayals or unexpected allegiances. These interactions create a living narrative where dialogue, loyalty and morality matter; turning each session into a story worth sharing. 

IMAGE COurtesy of Larian studios

image courtesy of larian studios

The game’s writing, dialogue and moral complexity elevate it above typical RPGs. It challenges players to make decisions that are rarely simple or obvious, forcing reflection on consequences, ethics and strategy. For anyone exploring why Baldur’s Gate 3 is the best RPG of the decade, the depth of its world and characters alone makes it unforgettable. 

Classic RPG Mechanics Make a Comeback

Gameplay in Baldur’s Gate 3 is where strategy meets freedom. Rooted in Dungeons & Dragons 5e rules, combat is tactical but accessible. Players can leverage positioning, environmental effects and spell combinations to outsmart enemies. Every fight rewards planning, creativity and improvisation. Whether you push enemies off cliffs, ignite rugs from beneath their feet or cast spells in unconventional ways. This emergent gameplay ensures no two battles feel the same, bringing back that old-school ingenuity in a world where games tend to hold your hand. 

 Beyond combat, the game’s production quality sets a new industry standard. Cinematic visuals, adaptive lighting and an immersive soundtrack bring the world to life. Every dungeon crawl, city visit and wilderness trek feels epic. Because the cinematics are played in real time, multiplayer opens a whole new can of worms with the potential for triggering events before they happen, like a bomb about to be set off before a player stole it during the conversation. The NPCs react to this as well, meaning it is intentionally designed despite never being done in the gaming industry.  

image courtesy of larian studios

These are just some of the reasons why Baldur’s Gate 3 is reshaping the RPG industry. Its success proves that story-rich RPGs can thrive alongside multiplayer blockbusters. Developers are increasingly adopting reactive world mechanics, emergent storytelling and companion depth, inspired by its success. It’s not just a game; it’s a blueprint for the future of RPGs, influencing how studios approach narrative, choice and player agency. All these aspects show why we can’t stop singing praises for this game, as it might be one of the best in the whole industry.  

By combining tactical gameplay, emergence and unforgettable characters in a responsive world, Baldur’s Gate 3 has rewritten the rules of modern RPGs. Its impact on the genre and the industry ensures it will be studied and emulated for years to come. 

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Liam Kettle is a prominent writer at IGN and will be constructing a deep analysis into the history of game narration. Born in Ottawa Ontario and then raised in Quebec, his upbringing into gaming started from the rest of his family being gamers. Growing up near Ubisoft Montreal only added to this, being allowed to playtest many games that hadn’t yet come out to the public and provide his feedback. This led him into journalism for gaming, now with five years of experience. For IGN, he will not only be reviewing older games that revolutionized each genre, but explaining the steps as to how we got where we are with cinema-esque experiences in gaming. You can catch it all at “The History of Game Narration”.

Three Reasons to Play Persona 5 Royal

Want a game that fuses slice-of-life with dungeon crawlers? Here you have it: Persona 5 Royal!

Released to western audiences in 2020, Persona 5 Royal is an expansion of the original Persona 5. Developed by ATLUS within SEGA, Persona 5 Royal strives to be its own story while fixing and adding to the original’s narrative and gameplay. When both versions are compared to the other, Persona 5 Royal is far more thought out.  

If you’re worried about the “5” in the title, don’t be. Persona 5 Royal has its own narrative that doesn’t relate to the earlier games in the series. There’s no fear of missing anything; all you have to do is jump in and play. Experience over hundred hours of gameplay and enjoy all there is to do!   

image courtesy of sega

Gameplay Variety 

With a game as large as Persona 5 Royal, it’s expected that it will be packed full of gameplay variety. Persona 5 Royal is unique compared to most other Japanese Role-play Games (JRPGS) in the sense that there are two main phases in which you can choose what to do in the game. By day, you’re able to dungeon crawl, hangout with friends, increase your skill levels, or explore the city of Tokyo. Japan. At night, dungeon crawling is limited; you’re instead encouraged to focus on the bonds you have with your confidants (friends/connections). 

It is unlikely that you will have a repeat of days and nights within Persona 5 Royal because of the sheer number of things you can do. You could go fishing, work at a job, dungeon crawl, hang out with confidants, study, build infiltration tools, cook meals…the possibilities are nearly endless, and the variety will never bore.  

You will have to live throughout an entire year playing each day, but don’t let that scare you. The days fly by quickly. Before you know it, you will be hours deep into the game in just a single session.  

Addictive Narrative That Will Make You Want to Play for Hours 

A game like Persona 5 Royal is nothing if it doesn’t have a compelling narrative thathooks you. Throughout the game, you will find yourself put into a narrative pattern that drives the gameplay forward, while also expanding the story. This is mostly shown with the dungeon crawling aspect. With each major area of the dungeons (Palaces) that you complete, the story will propel you forward. The game does a good job of keeping the player engaged with cutscenes, interactive dialogue and narrative consequences that will leave you aching to find out what happens next.  

image courtesy of sega

Compelling Characters 

Throughout your playthrough, you will come across over a dozen different characters that you can get to know. Each character you can learn more about are called Confidants. Confidants within Persona 5 Royal are people you will be able to hang out with. When you do, you get in-game rewards that’ll help with dungeon crawling. 

 However, that doesn’t mean that all Confidants are simple reward farms, as your character’s main group of friends will be the Confidants you see most often. Each friend of the main character is extremely well-developed, with arcs that surround their character's growth.  

You may find that some characters fall into stereotypical archetypes, such as social outcasts, mascots, and more. But as they’re developed, it will be hard to define them as just those archetypes. Each character feels like their own person with positive and negative traits, and they never feel dull.

IMAGE courtesy of sega

Despite how long it is, Persona 5 Royal is an upgrade from Persona 5 that deserves to be given a chance. It can be daunting, but the satisfaction you will get at the end is worth every hour put into the game. Every penny you spent on the game will reward you with its vast potential and variety.  

What are you waiting for? Go give Persona 5 Royal a shot! 

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Kate Mulligan

Kate Mulligan is one of our authors who will be responsible for the world building section within IGN. Born in Edmonton Alberta, Kate has lived their entire life within Canada. Having been raised in a household that loves video games, Kate has taken just as much of a liking, especially towards story driven games. For IGN, Kate will be focusing on the importance of world building and how exactly it effects the continuity of story based video games. Catch their first blog post titled “3 Reasons Red Dead Redemption II Will Captivate You Like No Other Game.”

The Wired Revolution Act III: How Fire Emblem Three Houses Shows The Aspects of A Leader

By Nathan Moloney

courtesy of koei tecmo/intelligent systems/nintendo

How does the fight for a better world impact us and those we love? Fire Emblem: Three Houses answers with a resounding, “Pretty poorly!” This essay will focus on The Black Eagles route, so expect spoilers for that portion of the game.  We will also be going deep into the character Edelgard Von Hresvelg, Emperor of Adrestia and a young revolutionary. If you’ve already beaten a route of Three Houses, feel free to read! If not, then do that before coming back!

Edelgard is unusual in her status as nobility in the continent of Fodlan, as she hates it more than anything. In comparison to Will and B.J from my prior essays, she starts the story at the height of power. The heir to a empire stronger than any other, with a house full of nobles who listen and support her as the emperor.

Yet there is one thing that she shares with those other heroes; she knows that this world is unfair.

Edelgard would be the last person to start a revolution in any normal world. Her crown is normally a supporter of Archbishop Rhea and The Church of Serios, attending he military academy the church runs. As a noble, she would benefit from this world. Yet there is one word she hates more than anything.

Crests.

Edelgard hates crests and the system made from them. Crests ensure a noble’s standing in their house, the weapons they can wield and the power they hold in society. It is also the source of her trauma, the vicious experiments that killed her siblings and shortened her lifespan.  A victim of this repugnant system, she picks up an axe and declares the one word that would shape Fodlan for 5 years.

War.

courtesy of koei tecmo/intelligent systems/nintendo

Edelgard’s morals can certainly be questioned; she is not as noble a hero as Will and B.J are, but that is what makes her so interesting. She aligns with those who made her a victim and killed her family. She manipulates her professor (and player character) Byleth, as well as masquerades as the villainous Flame Emperor. Yet she does not allow this to break her or allow it to close her off from her allies. She makes friends, she laughs, she connects with those around her. They are not pieces on a chess board for her; they are people she deeply cares for.

The path her life takes is decided by the player choosing whether they want to join her or side with the church. In both outcomes, the player takes their whole party with them. Either uniting Edelgard with her allies or isolating her to her worse impulses. No matter what, the war she plunges Fodlan into rips apart everything.

Three Houses plays with a lot of perspective due to its multi route structure. To some, she is a great liberator racing to end the oppression of the masses. To others, she is a grand despot razing peace and life. Edelgard is all these things; she knows she can never be the perfect emperor, so she takes an axe to the rules and fights for her dreams.

courtesy of koei tecmo/intelligent systems/nintendo

Edelgard sums up everything I love about Three Houses. A complex character who is not always in the right, but who you can understand. She is not a noble hero like Will or a hardened man of war like B.J; she is a victim made into a flawed avenger. Despot, hero, revolutionary or fascist, the means don’t matter to her as much as creating her better world is. Her axe might need to break the bodies of otherwise good people, but she can take it. Better her than those she loves; that’s what makes her so good as a character. She is shaped by those around her; her fight is shaped even by the choice to play her route.  Her fight could not exist without the bodies of her family, but Edelgard, the girl who would be emperor, likewise would not exist without The Black Eagles. Her axe is bloodied for them, and her revolution cannot succeed without them. That’s what makes her so special to me.

“If an opera is made about my life someday, I wonder how I'll be portrayed. The revolutionary who guided the Empire to a new dawn...or the foolish ruler who took her revolution too far." Edelgard Von Hresvelg to Dorothea Arnault, Imperial Year 1180

courtesy of koei tecmo/intelligent systems/nintendo

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Nathan Moloney is one of our featured writers, and will be heading up the review section for IGN. Born in Oakville Ontario and raised between there and Toronto, Nathan aims to bring a wide range of experience to the team. Being a lifelong gamer, he has played everything from Lego Batman to XCOM 2 and Hades. With a particular interest in role-playing games, Nathan will bring his love of narrative into everything he does. Expect reviews telling you about what he loves and dislikes about the storylines in the games he loves, as well as powerful discussions about the revolutionary narratives in many video games.

The Hit 2003 Frog Golf Video Game Ribbit King is Secretly an Endorsement for United States Imperialism, and I can Prove it

Frolf. There’s no word more synonymous with the blazing summer of beautiful 2003. It was the sport on everybody’s mind. The radical invention of frolf, otherwise known as frog golf, took the Japanese youth by storm when Bandai Namco’s Ribbit King hit store shelves on July 11, and it hit hard. But Ribbit King has a dark secret, one that we were never meant to know. In truth, Ribbit King is propaganda designed to manufacture consent for U.S. Imperialism following the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, as well as the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

And the evidence is irrefutable.

An Introduction to Ribbit King

Ribbit King is a jolly game where players partake of the fictional sport of frolf, a golf like sport in which participants use hammers to launch frogs off of catapults, flinging them across a variety of whimsical planets, earning points and eating flies as they make their way to the hole of each course.

An Actual Introduction to Ribbit King

Ribbit King is a dark and twisted simulacrum of the early Iraq War which cleverly utilizes bright colours and cartoon characters as a veil for a sickening allegory of an idealized, destructively nationalistic, and nonexistent version of the American lie that was the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

…What?

So you’re confused. I get it. The truth is a tough pill to swallow. And yet, the truth will remain the truth, and I, agent of enquiry that I am, will stop at nothing to share the secrets of Ribbit King with the world.

Let me break it down for you.

The story mode of Ribbit King follows the exploits a young carpenter by the name of Scooter (pictured above) who, on a mission from King Hippity-Hop of his home planet of Hippitron, participates in an intergalactic frolf tournament to obtain the prize of a supply of Super Ribbinite, a mythical resource that acts as the source of all of Hippitron’s energy. Sound familiar? That’s right. King Hippity-Hop is a stand-in for former U.S. president George W. Bush, Scooter represents a blue collar American worker, lured into the army by the false promise of attaining glory by fighting for his country, and Super Ribbinite? Why, it’s oil, of course.

Throughout his journey, Scooter does battle with the inhabitants of the myriad planets of the galaxy, proliferating resources and items from them as he does, with his tournament run coming to a climactic end after he defeats the sentient gachapon machine and titular Ribbit King, Gumbah-Goo. Although the writers clearly attempted to portray Scooter’s journey in a positive light, it’s evident to that this is nothing more than a feeble ploy to represent U.S. intervention in foreign countries as something worthy of our support, all by reframing it through the lens of a children’s golf game. And if you’re looking for further evidence, take a look at the character Pan-Pan and his frog, Pouncer.

Pan-Pan hails from Planet Pow-Pow and is a kung-fu expert, while Pouncer loves bamboo and was born in China, implying the existence of Earth in the Ribbit King universe. The two are also the only characters in the game with slanted eyes. As we all know, racism is a key value of the modern American politician, which the blatantly disrespectful depictment of Chinese stereotypes present in the pair of Pan-Pan and Pouncer is obviously both referencing and supporting. You know who else is racist? Yup. The previously mentioned George Bush. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you handled Katrina.

What Does it All Mean?

Look. I’m a person who values critical thinking. More than that, I’m a person who values truth. That is to say that I’m not going to tell you how to think or what to believe, but I will tell you this: Ribbit King disgusts me. It is the spawn of everything I hate about the U.S. It is a revolting excuse for a video game that seeks to poison the minds of all who play it. Unfortunately, however, this is where my coverage must end. I fear that if I, as a journalist, continue to speak out against Ribbit King, I’ll be putting myself at risk of dying under “mysterious circumstances.” In my absence, dear reader, remember to always think for yourself, and remember to always search for the truth, no matter what.

And to think that I didn’t even talk about the second story mode…

𝘓𝘐𝘚𝘈 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭, or Making Meaningful Choices

ONE MAN’S FUTILE QUEST. (IMAGE COURTESTY OF DINGALING PRODUCTIONS).

When we think about games with choices that matter, we often think about games with multiple endings, determined by our decisions. LISA the Painful, one of the lesser-known MOTHER-inspired games out there, has only one. In the sense of story outcome, your choices don’t matter. After all…

FROM THE MOUTH OF THE BASTARD HIMSELF. (IMAGE COURTESY OF DINGALING PRODUCTIONS.)

There are three brief post-ending sequences determined by your choices, but those aren’t different futures you’ve forged; they’re glimpses into the past.

And yet, the game is filled with choices that feel meaningful. As it turns out, choices don’t need to affect story outcome to be important.

How?

The choices in LISA the Painful may not affect the story’s conclusion, but it does two other vital things:

1.      It informs us of Brad’s character.

This might seem like a strange thing to claim. If Brad can make multiple choices, doesn’t that make his choices a stand-in for the player’s? Wouldn’t a more realised characterization of Brad not need player input?

And that is a reasonable thing to think. There is some variance on where Brad is on the selfish-selfless scale, depending on how you play him.

But the vast majority of choices Brad must make are forced upon him. And these decisions are not easy ones, as I’ll explain later.

Moreover, Brad doesn’t always listen to the player’s input. There are some impulses that are too deeply rooted in his pain and suffering to allow any room for rational thought or deviation. And it is in those moments of defiance that you are truly understand who Brad is. It is here that you learn of what choices he could’ve made, perhaps even wanted to make, but could not bring himself to make.

Perhaps more importantly, however:

2.      It changes our experience with the game.

LISA the Painful takes advantage of that fact that it’s a video game, achieving ludonarrative resonance (if you don’t know what that is, Capcom did an article on it). One of the many ways it does so is through its choices.

TWO TOUGH CHOICES AND ONE FALSE ONE. (IMAGE COURTESY OF DINGALING PRODUCTIONS.)

This is one of the earliest choices presented in the game.

I believe most players, myself included, quickly chose to give up our arm during our first playthrough. While these statistics don’t account for subsequent playthroughs, the fact that only 6.9 per cent of players have the Selfish achievement (which can only be gained if Brad has both arms by the end of the game) as opposed to the Kinda Selfish (11.6 per cent) and Selfless (9.5 per cent) seems to support this. And it’s only natural – we’ve been conditioned by other games to pick the selfless choice.

But the loss of Brad’s arm is not simply a cosmetic piece or a plot point – it affects the very way you navigate the game, just as the loss of an arm would affect how you navigate real life.

Brad’s stats drop permanently. His addiction will become more severe, triggering withdrawal – which manifests mechanically as his stats tanking, sometimes to the point of doing no damage – more often. And your combos, which you’ve no doubt begun memorizing, will have completely changed, meaning you must go through the process of re-learning them – not unlike the adjustment period someone who lost an arm might have.

Likewise, losing a party member isn’t just bad because you’ll lose a character you might like. The world of LISA the Painful is an exceptionally brutal one. Your survival may very well hinge on a party member’s presence.

What really sells the sense of inevitable pain is the frequent presence of a false choice; one that defies the options laid out for Brad.  But LISA the Painful is not a story with outs. Trying to get an easy way out will only further punish the player. In this instance, your entire party is reduced to a single HP point, and the option is eliminated. This is one of the kinder outcomes.

It is in this way that mechanics and story bleed together. Your choices matter because they affect not just the story, but the gameplay itself.

There are many ways to make your choices feel meaningful in video games. LISA the Painful proves that sometimes, when it comes to meaningful choices in story, the destination isn’t what matters – it’s the journey itself.

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The name is Mole Cricket. The world is a fascinating place when you’re cursed with sapience. I have too many thoughts in my mind and too much time on my claws. Without the need to work as my human peers must, I have endless time to devote to video games.

I first delved into the MOTHER series upon pupating, having heard of my kind’s inclusion in the series’ third instalment. It sparked my love for games and inspired many new gamedevs. My blog posts will examine games made by those devs over the decades.

I also graduated at the University of Texas with a masters in English. (The more impressive feat was not getting squashed by my squeamish classmates). You can follow me and my fellow bloggers here!

There Is No Sugarcoating Survival Within The Last of Us – Which Is Exactly Why It’s Great

COURTESY OF SONY

Twenty years after an outbreak of infection caused the mass destruction of the populace, it’s no surprise that people do dirty work to survive. The main character of Sony’s video game developer Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is one of those people. Torture, smuggling, murder, thievery – everything is a possibility within the world of The Last of Us so long as it brings a means of survival.  

Joel Miller is a man who lives by the idea that survival is his utmost priority, even if that means doing morally questionable things. The game is not afraid to directly tell or imply to you that Joel is that type of person, and yet you are shown that there is more to Joel’s character that isn’t just his way of survival. Survival is a brutal but necessary thing in The Last of Us, which is precisely what makes the game so realistic with several layers to the narrative. 

Situations Will Happen That You Can Do Nothing but Move on From 

The Last of Us does not shy from making things happen within the narrative that you cannot go back from. Death is not treated lightly and is one of the character motivators for both main characters of the narrative. Characters will die, but you and the characters within the narrative will have to move past those situations before it can be properly processed.  

There is hardly any time to grieve when there are people and infected people all around and trying to kill you. After all, survival is a harsh reality that beckons you to move on past tragedies, something that The Last of Us makes sure to remind you consistently throughout your playthrough. 

courtesy of sony

Sometimes The Best Thing to Do Is to Adapt and Move On. 

Both main characters of The Last of Us deal with their grief of passed loved ones, shaping them into people that do anything to survive. The world of The Last of Us is relentless and ruthless and the threat of death is around every corner.

With Joel Miller, he is shown to be a broody man who has who has suffered and is forced to change to survive. Although he is not proud of his past actions, he doesn’t try and deny that he did them either. He actively does horrendous things through the player’s actions, adding onto the type of man that he is; a man driven by the need to adapt and push forward. 

In the other protagonist’s (Ellie Williams) case, being born during the pandemic, she has grown up with the constant need to adapt to change. Throughout the narrative, you will see as Ellie continues to adapt to the change that is brought upon her, whether that be through dialogue, cutscenes, or even timely interactions. As a character, Eliie is the embodiment of “adapt and move on” which is a theme that follows the narrative strongly throughout the game. 

Non-Playable Characters Are Just as Driven for Survival as You 

In The Last of Us, the player travels across the country as Joel Miller to complete the ultimate goal he has. Throughout the journey, you will come across countless non-playable characters (NPCS) and side characters that are trying to survive. Whether those characters are scavengers, cannibals, slavers – there is always one thing they all share, the need to survive. You will make friends or enemies with these characters, but the fact that everyone is driven to survive remains all the same. 

It is one of the many reasons The Last of Us is an incredible narrative, as focusing on the survival aspect of the game is just a fraction of the greatness that is The Last of Us. If you want to experience a rich narrative full of third-person gameplay and realistic characters that shape the story, give The Last of Us a chance. 

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Kate Mulligan

Kate Mulligan is one of our authors who will be responsible for the world building section within IGN. Born in Edmonton Alberta, Kate has lived their entire life within Canada. Having been raised in a household that loves video games, Kate has taken just as much of a liking, especially towards story driven games. For IGN, Kate will be focusing on the importance of world building and how exactly it effects the continuity of story based video games. Catch their first blog post titled “3 Reasons Red Dead Redemption II Will Captivate You Like No Other Game.”

The Power Of Control: How Video Games Tell Stories Differently

By Liam Kettle

Image courtesy of Square enix, CD projekt red, bethesda

Storytelling has always been about control, who holds it, who loses it, and who gets to shape it. In most traditional media, like film or literature, that control belongs to the creator. A director decides what you see; a novelist dictates what you imagine. But video games complicate that balance. They hand some of the storytelling power to the player, giving them control over the narrative. This creates a partnership between the author and audience that no other medium can fully replicate. 

In this blog, we will explore three landmark games. Half Life, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, and Metal Gear Solid. These titles paved the way for many examples of the most excellent narration in video games, but they all approached storytelling differently.

Half-Life: Story by Immersion 

When Half-Life launched in 1998, it broke a simple but powerful rule of first-person shooters: it refused to take control from the player. Gone were the cutscenes that yanked you from your character’s perspective. Instead, every event unfolded through the protagonist’s eyes, without ever pausing gameplay.  

That decision fundamentally redefined how games could tell stories. Gordon Freeman never speaks, never emotes, and yet players form an intimate understanding of the world through pure presence. Storytelling happens in motion—through environmental details, overheard dialogue, and the chaos erupting around you. 

In other media, world-building is descriptive; in Half-Life, it’s participatory. You’re not told that Black Mesa is falling apart; the player experiences it as alarms blare and scientist's panic. The result is a narrative that doesn’t just invite immersion; it demands it. The story exists only as long as you keep moving. "Half-Life is a milestone that revolutionized the genre and left a lasting impact on the gaming industry." 

Image courtesy of valve

Knights of the Old Republic: Story by Choice

If Half-Life exemplifies how games can tell stories through environment and perspective, Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) demonstrates another uniquely interactive dimension: moral choice. BioWare’s KOTOR transformed the traditional Role-playing game (RPG) dialogue tree into a storytelling engine, letting players shape not only what happened but what kind of person they became in the process. 

At its heart, KOTOR tells a classic Star Wars story of good versus evil. Redemption versus corruption. The brilliance lies in how it makes those themes tangible. Dialogue choices ripple outward, influencing relationships, quests, and even the Force itself. The player’s decisions carry narrative weight, and by the time the game reveals its famous twist, the story had already been deeply personalized by your actions. 

This is where video games diverge most sharply from film or literature. In a movie, moral transformation is something you watch; in KOTOR, it’s something you perform. Every light-side or dark-side decision becomes part of the storytelling fabric, a collaborative dance between the writer’s script and the player’s will. "It's got enough Star Wars to satisfy the fans and enough pure fun to draw in people who normally wouldn't get into role-playing games." 

image courtesy of bioware

Metal Gear Solid: Story by Spectacle 

Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid (MGS) franchise occupies a fascinating middle ground between the cinematic and the interactive. Unlike Half-Life, MGS is unapologetically full of cutscenes. Long, dense, and self-aware, Kojima didn’t shy away from using filmic techniques; he embraced them. Pulling in dynamic camera work, tight close-ups, and voice acting that rivaled Hollywood productions of its era. 

Yet Metal Gear Solid isn’t just a movie you occasionally play. Its genius lies in how it interlaces cinematic storytelling with gameplay in ways only a video game could achieve. The cutscenes demand your full attention as it directly involves gameplay, for example, when you need to escape prison, there are numerous ways to escape that are shown to you through the story. 

Kojima’s approach blurs the boundary between film and interactivity. The player becomes both a spectator and a participant, forced to reconcile cinematic storytelling with tactile engagement. It’s not “less interactive” than Half-Life. It’s interactive in a different way, one that plays with the conventions of both cinema and gaming. 

image courtesy of konami

These three giants proved that video game narration has a unique place and can often serve as the superior method of delivering a story. Half-Life gives you a body in a world. Knights of the Old Republic gives you a moral compass to steer. Metal Gear Solid gives you a role in cinematic performance. 

The Wired Revolution Act II: How The 2010’s Wolfenstein Games Show That Fascism Deserves a Kick in The Teeth

By Nathan Moloney

IMAGE courtesy of machinegames/bethesda

For years many have argued about what a ‘good’ Nazi even is, but MachineGames posits in their Wolfenstein games that the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi, and it is quite a persuasive argument. As the fans of the series will know, in 2014’s Wolfenstein: The New Order and 2017’s Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus thrusts the player into the fascist stomping boots of B.J Blazkowicz as he fights through an alternate 1960s after the victory of the Nazis in WW2. The message of the following writing is that sometimes it is needed to fight back against the oppressors of the world. Sometimes violence is the answer against those who would inflict violence on targeted groups of people. These games do not shy away from depicting the subject matter so neither will we, so a content warning for well, The Nazi Party in general.  Now it should be noted that from this point onward you should have played the games to the end, as there will be spoilers from this point onward. However, for the smaller spin offs such as The Old Blood and Youngblood there will be no spoilers for those games (as I have yet to play them, and they are less important to the overall narrative of B.J across the games). With all that understood, let's get into the overall essay.  

IMAGE courtesy of machinegames/bethesda

 B.J starts his journey after having been knocked into a coma in the final battle of the war and coming out of it in a mental hospital some 20 years later, coming to the defense of the family that cared for him and the patients that come under Nazi abuse. This opening shows two things regarding both B.J and the world that I want to highlight. First is that nobody is safe under their regime, not the polish family running the hospital nor the patients inside, suffering comes for us all. Second is that BJ is Captain America, he’s a strong American hero out of time come back to help people.

However, there is one thing that makes him function stronger than Steve Rogers in this case of a fight against the Nazi party, and that is the fact that B.J is Jewish. Whereas Steve is everything the Nazi’s love fighting against them, B.J is tainted in their eyes by his Jewish heritage, there can never been an equal exchange of ideals between them, because they will always hate him for the one thing he can never change, his blood.  

IMAGE courtesy of machinegames/bethesda

 In my prior writing on Metaphor ReFantazio I discussed how that game shows the power of collective action against a greater evil, and we see that laid clear in this series with the Kreisau Circle. A fictional extension of a real anti-Nazi group in Germany, this verison of the circle is a multi-racial rebel group consisting of people fighting against the fascist government. This might be an even stronger version of what Metaphor ReFantazio was doing due to these games existing in a more real world with real races and real people. These are games that are not afraid of showing Nazi’s in a bad light and letting the player fight back against with brutal attacks against the violence being perpetrated against the world. MachineGames never shys away from the violence needed to make a meaningful change, and they never try to sugarcoat the fight to make the world better.  

 In 2025 I find this to be a strong message, where we as Canadians look over to our neighbors and see a madman breaking down the rules, putting people in cages, wanting 51st states and waging war against his own citizens. It’s hard not to fear the worst when we see a weak man trying to seem strong by hurting people and swinging his dick around.

Is the United States on the road to fascism? Who really knows, but it will be if people are not willing to stand up and fight for what is right. Look to how open MachineGames was to placing their boot in the mouth of oppressors and tyrants and think about that if they were willing to do that in a video game, what are you willing to do in real life?

 As pointed out by Youtuber peterspittech they couldn't make this game today, not because we the people have changed but rather due to the cowards at the top of the boardrooms. Are you willing to let them win? Or like B.J, are you going to get off your knees and fight?

IMAGE courtesy of machinegames/bethesda

Nathan Moloney is one of our featured writers, and will be heading up the review section for IGN. Born in Oakville Ontario and raised between there and Toronto Nathan aims to bring a wide range of experience to the team. Being a lifelong gamer, he has played everything from Lego Batman to XCOM 2 and Hades. With a particular interest in role-playing games, Nathan will bring his love of narrative into everything he does. Expect reviews telling you about what he loves and dislikes about the storylines in the games he loves, as well as powerful discussions about the revolutionary narratives in many video games.

3 Reasons Red Dead Redemption II Will Captivate You Like No Other Game

By Kate Mulligan

IMAGE COURTESY OF ROCKSTAR GAMES

Want an extra-long game to sink your teeth into? You're in luck! Red Dead Redemption II (RDR2) is an expansive world offering countless side missions, story quests, ridiculous shenanigans and intense combat that is certain to keep you engaged. 

Developed by Rockstar— who also created iconic games like Bully and the Grand Theft Auto franchise— and released on October 26, 2018. The story of RDR2 follows outlaw Arthur Morgan and a gang of other outlaws led by Dutch Van Der Linde as they work to gain money to leave their previous bust of a heist behind them. 

Sounds intriguing? That's not even half of what makes RDR2 compelling! There's a reason RDR2 has cemented itself as one of the best story-driven games out there. What is that reason, you may ask? Well, let me give you all the juicy details!

Gameplay Friendly No Matter Your Gaming Style

You heard me right; RDR2 is an open-world game that offers countless things to explore. No matter if you merely want to enjoy the story, 100% the game, want to stylize the main character, explore the map, or find collectibles, you can do that and so much more. There is so much to the game that not even everything could be said without making this blog post 5x as long, no exaggeration. It’s not for no reason that the game takes 150-200 hours to 100% complete, but that doesn’t mean you have to play for long. The main story on average takes around 50 hours to complete, but who’s to say you can’t take your time with it? You can speedrun the game and compete to get the fastest track record or take your sweet time enjoying all the lovely animals you can encounter.

IMAGE COURTESY OF ROCKSTAR GAMES

Expansive World That Leaves Hundreds of Possibilities Open to You

Did you know RDR2 has 144 card collectibles, 179 animals and over 400 things to do? It would be ridiculous to say that there isn’t much to do, as that is far from the truth. Rockstar’s development with RDR2 didn’t take 8 years to complete for nothing and it shows with how vast the world of RDR2 is. Taking time to ride your horse around or bunting legendary animals, or even bringing yourself around the world to complete side quests. It’s even possible to go from town to town causing a havoc of NPC deaths or robbing trains and carts, however I’d only recommend that if you don’t mind the hundreds or even thousands of dollars of in game wanted money. The Rockstar team developed the world of RDR2 to make almost anything possible within the story.

Like any open world game, RDR2 has many possibilities right at your fingertips, but what makes RDR2’s world different is the sheer detail crafted within the world. Your actions shape the world around you through RDR2’s honor system. The honor system is a simple thing. Whether you do good or bad actions, your honor will lean to either of those. This system isn’t there just for show because depending on if you lean to either bad or good honor, the ending of the game will change. I won’t go into detail as it is something worth checking out yourself, but simply put, the demeanor of the main character Arthur Morgan and the visuals will change depending on which honor you choose.

IMAGE COURTESY OF ROCKSTAR GAMES

A Strong Community That Persists Even Seven Years Later

You would think that after nearly a decade later, the community would have died out by now, but that is far from the case! To this day, I see countless of RDR2 based YouTubers, modded gameplays, challenge videos, and roleplays using the Online Play of the world. It is an absolute joy to be around to witness all the creativity from fans of the game, even with all the time that has passed. It is never too late to join in and experience the entertainment RDR2 brings, so what do you say? Play the game and explore the countless of possibilities for yourself!

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Kate Mulligan

Kate Mulligan is one of our authors who will be responsible for the world building section within IGN. Born in Edmonton Alberta, Kate has lived their entire life within Canada. Having been raised in a household that loves video games, Kate has taken just as much of a liking, especially towards story driven games. For IGN, Kate will be focusing on the importance of world building and how exactly it effects the continuity of story based video games. Catch their first blog post titled “3 Reasons Red Dead Redemption II Will Captivate You Like No Other Game.”

𝘠𝘜𝘔𝘌 𝘕𝘐𝘒𝘒𝘐, or Story in the Absence of Story

By most accounts, YUME NIKKI should not be considered a story-driven game. There is little text, zero dialogue and whatever plot exists is close to non-existent.

And yet, almost everyone who plays the game forms their own story around it. What about YUME NIKKI makes people do this?

Hold the phone, you promised MOTHER inspired games?

A brief detour: YUME NIKKI isn’t often cited as a game inspired by the MOTHER series, and we don’t have definitive proof that it was. KIKIYAMA, the enigmatic creator of the game, certainly never said so.

But we can deduce that it was an inspiration, as two areas seem to be visual homages to the first instalment of MOTHER:

• The FC House to various house environments
• The Pink Sea to Magicant

(While not confirmation, Toby Fox also alluded to the similarities during an interview with KIKIYAMA.)

It’s possible that KIKIYAMA was inspired by the surreal elements of the MOTHER series and the idea of exploring a place created by one’s subconscious, à la Magicant.

(Funnily enough, many games inspired by the MOTHER series also cite YUME NIKKI as inspiration, such as UNDERTALE, OMORI, OneShot and the LISA trilogy, the last of which actually started as a fangame.)

Okay, carry on. What’s the deal with YUME NIKKI?

YUME NIKKI’s plot, if it can be said to have one, is as follows:

• A girl named Madotsuki refuses to leave her house.

• She spends most of her time exploring an elaborate, trippy dream world.

• After a certain point of exploration, she kills herself.

That first point, I think, is at the heart of YUME NIKKI’s narrative-building power. When playing a top-down exploration game, exiting rooms is a core mechanic one almost takes for granted. Being met with refusal on your character’s part to leave a space is a simple subversion that immediately begs the question of why.

The second point is a perfect segue into answering that question. Dreams are said to be a window into the subconscious, and really, it’s the only place you can go in YUME NIKKI.

But I don’t believe YUME NIKKI would’ve been so effective at making players craft a story if KIKIYAMA had just, excuse my French, thrown random shit at the wall.

Sure, there are many strange places and events to explore in Madotsuki’s dreamworld. But there are also reoccurring themes and imagery throughout the seemingly random nature of it. Be it traffic accident allusions, reproductive imagery, indigenous art, peering eyes or several other recurrences, there’s many ways to weave together who Madotsuki is and why she refuses to go outside.

I also don’t believe it would’ve been so compelling if the imagery were too consistent. The sense of mystery is a large part of what draws people in. If the answers were too obvious, it wouldn’t be fun to piece together. What stands out will vary from player to player — which also lends itself to discussion around the game.

Even the quirks in how Madostsuki interacts with her dreamworld helps build on these themes. In my own playthrough, I found the world to be an oppressively lonely one, populated with silent entities. Even as I was surrounded by people, I felt so deeply alone without a way to speak to them. Trying to find some way, any way, to make a connection with these entities almost consumed me. I would cycle through effects with very little success in achieving an interaction. There was the occasional breakthrough, but most met my attempts with indifference.

And then I found the knife.

(Courtesy of Kikiyama)

While unnecessary for progression, the only way of meaningfully interacting with most entities in YUME NIKKI is by stabbing — and usually killing — them. Why someone’s psyche would manifest in such a way was an impossible question for me to ignore.

The last point reframes whatever throughlines the player picked up in the dreamworld. Whatever happened to Madotsuki, it was enough to drive her to suicide.

Ultimately, YUME NIKKI is a game about someone else’s dreams — a stranger with her own mind and will. We cannot know what is going through Madotsuki’s head, and it may just be nonsense. But it offers just enough to keep us asking why without overwhelming the player with questions, and it gives us just enough to grasp onto without handing answers to us.

That is the beautifully simple force behind YUME NIKKI.

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(Photographed by Carol wolf.)

The name is Mole Cricket. The world is a fascinating place when you’re cursed with sapience. I have too many thoughts in my mind and too much time on my claws. Without the need to work as my human peers must, I have endless time to devote to video games.

I first delved into the MOTHER series upon pupating, having heard of my kind’s inclusion in the series’ third instalment. It sparked my love for games and inspired many new game devs. My blog posts will examine games made by those devs over the decades.

I also graduated at the University of Texas with a masters in English. (The more impressive feat was not getting squashed by my squeamish classmates). You can follow me and my fellow bloggers here!

The Evolution of Game Narration: From Pixels to Prose

By Liam Kettle

Image Courtesy of ZA/UM, Naughty Dog/Sony®, 2K games.

In the early decades of video gaming, storytelling wasn’t the central focus. The blinking pixels of early arcade games offered action and challenge, not emotional depth. But over time, game developers began to explore new ways of weaving narrative into gameplay, laying out the foundation for the deeply immersive storytelling we often take for granted today. 

The Origins: Mechanics Before Story 
 
The 1970s marked the birth of video games, and titles like Pong and Space Invaders became instant classics. But these games were primarily mechanic driven. The story was extremely simple and only provided context to justify the gameplay, with Pong having no story at all. Whereas Space Invaders, you defended Earth from alien attacks, but no backstory or characters were offered. The goal was purely survival. 

But a game that went under the radar was Colossal Cave Adventure. This was one of the first instances of narrative in a video game. It had the player character go through multiple text-based scenarios where they were required to make a choice to progress.

Story Gets a Face: Visual and Graphic Adventures 
 
As graphical capabilities improved during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid began integrating sparse but meaningful narratives. While gameplay still dominated, the addition of simple story hooks such as rescuing a princess or defeating an all-consuming evil force, gave players purpose. 
 
Most of these games used minimal dialogue and cutscenes. Instead, the story was conveyed through level, design, music, and atmosphere. Metroid’s haunting isolation or Zelda’s sense of epic quest were as much about tone as they were about explicit storytelling.

Image courtesy of Nintendo®.

The CD-ROM Revolution and Cinematic Narratives 
 
The 1990s brought CD-ROMs, which expanded storage space and opened the door for more elaborate narration. Games like Final Fantasy VII pushed the envelope with character development, dramatic plot twists, and cinematic cutscenes. Voice acting started to appear, and developers experimented with branching narratives. 
 
Meanwhile, Western developers were exploring new territory. Half-life integrated storytelling directly into gameplay, eliminating cutscenes and keeping players immersed in the experience. The story unfolded around the player, not in spite of them. 
 
This era marked a shift: narration was no longer separate from gameplay – it became part of it. 

The Rise of Player Choice 
 
In the 2000s, narrative ambition surged. Massive franchises like Mass Effect, Bioshock, and the Witcher series embraced complex stories with moral ambiguity and player-driven decisions. Developers began treating players not just as passive participants, but as storytellers in their own right. 
 
This period saw the rise of branching narratives and consequences. Games now offer multiple endings, unique character arcs, and dialogue trees that make each playthrough personal and varied. The idea that games could offer interactive storytelling truly took hold, and there was a certain appeal behind each player having a different story of their gameplay experience to share. 
 
This marked the steppingstone for what is considered the golden age of video game narratives.

Indie Games and Emotional Storytelling

As indie games gained prominence in the 2010s, a new wave of narrative innovation emerged. Without the pressure of AAA production, indie developers explored more intimate, emotional stories.

Titles like Journey, Undertale, and Celeste experimented with minimalism, unreliable narrators, and even meta-narrative. These games proved that powerful storytelling didn’t require massive budgets our out of this world graphics - just creativity and authenticity.

This doesn’t mean that AAA production wasn’t pumping out narrative masterpieces though. A popular title of being the Last of Us and its sequel set new standards for character-driven storytelling in blockbuster games, blending cinematic direction with interactive drama. The narrative in particular here was strong enough to adapt into a TV series which became immensely popular.

Image courtesy of Sony®, Toby Fox, Extremely OK Games.

Over the Horizon

From text-based adventures to cinematic epics and emotionally resonant indie titles, video game narration has traveled a long road. It’s no longer just about saving the princess or defeating the “big bad”. Today’s games grapple with identity, loss, morality, and ideology.

As technology continues to grow, so will the ways we tell and experience stories in games. Unlike passive media, games offer something no other form can: the power to live the story, to shape it, and to feel the consequences of our choices in a world built for interaction.

Video game narration isn’t just a part of gaming experience. It’s what give it meaning.

The Wired Revolution Act I: How Metaphor ReFantazio Shows the Power of Collective Action

By Nathan Moloney

(Image COURTESY of sega/Atlus)

Metaphor ReFantazio opens with one question, can fantasy affect reality? The truth is messy and not without nuance, but I would argue that it comes to the conclusion that fantasy can inspire us to make a change in the world. Before we get into that however, I want to give a big, massive spoiler warning. This essay is for people who have beaten Metaphor: ReFantazio and want to further engage with the themes of the story and what it has to say, I highly recommend experiencing the game before reading further.  

Let’s recap the narrative. You play as The Traveling Boy (Canon name Will, which will be how we refer to him from here), you are on a mission with the fairy Galica to kill Louis. Louis was blamed for trapping the prince of the United Kingdom of Euchronia in a deadly curse and killed its king, and you are part of the group that is harboring the prince and working against Louis. By the time you get a chance to make the attack, the King’s Magic kicks in and calls an election. From there you set out on your quest to get high enough in the race to get close to Louis.  You discover the truth behind the curse (it was ordered by this worlds corrupt church), that Will is actually the prince, and then you kill Louis to bring peace to the kingdom before being crowned King.  

Image COURTESY of sega/Atlus)

However I want to discuss one key plot point, the book that Will takes around with him at all times. It is a utopian fantasy novel that is clearly being written about our real world, it tells of a world without bigotry and without strife in a way that is  appealing to a young man facing racial discrimination at every turn as an Eldan boy (the lowest tribe in the United Kingdom). By the end of the game Will is faced with a choice, leave the world he knows for the world he reads about or stay to face certain death against Louis.  

He chooses to stay and fight for the world he knows instead of escaping into the fiction of his book. I think that is Metaphors answer to the question it asked you some 60-100 hours prior. Fantasy impacts reality through inspiring you to make the change that you want to see in the world, and through sharing the fantasy with others you can make them see the world differently. Throughout the entire game Will shares this novel with those around him, and they change as a result. The book is utopian not because it shows our deeply un-utopian world as that, but because it makes others dream big and want to make their world similar.  The fantasy brings people together in a world so divided by their differences and prejudices. We also see this through the character of More, who spends most of the game as your mentor who is locked away in his own realm. At the end it is revealed he is both your father, the now dead king, and the author of the book that Will carries around, and he is the one who offers the choice to leave the world to come to our real world. More does this because he lost hope in the world and its ability to change after his son was cursed, in his eyes his fantasy could not affect reality, and he simply wants to give up on making that difference. However, Will’s views are different because he shared this fantasy with others, and he has those bonds built with different people.  

This is the core ideal of Metaphor ReFantazio, that fantasy can inspire you to make the change in the world, that fantasy when shared with others is among the most powerful forces in the world. It is not that the mere act of reading a book makes that change, it is acting on the ideas of that work which makes the change, and that is why I love Metaphor Refantazio. It is a smart story about changing the world and I love all its many facets. 

Fantasy can inspire us to change the world, together. 

Image COURTESY of sega/Atlus)

Author Bio: Liam Kettle

Liam Kettle is a prominent writer at IGN and will be constructing a deep analysis into the history of game narration. Born in Ottawa Ontario and then raised in Quebec, his upbringing into gaming started from the rest of his family being gamers. Growing up near Ubisoft Montreal only added to this, being allowed to playtest many games that hadn’t yet come out to the public and provide his feedback. This led him into journalism for gaming, now with five years of experience. For IGN, he will not only be reviewing older games that revolutionized each genre, but explaining the steps as to how we got where we are with cinema-esque experiences in gaming. You can catch it all at “The History of Game Narration”.

Author Bio: Nathan Moloney

Nathan Moloney is one of our featured writers, and will be heading up the review section for IGN. Born in Oakville Ontario and raised between there and Toronto Nathan aims to bring a wide range of experience to the team. Being a lifelong gamer, he has played everything from Lego Batman to XCOM 2 and Hades. With a particular interest in role-playing games, Nathan will bring his love of narrative into everything he does. Expect reviews telling you about what he loves and dislikes about the storylines in the games he loves, as well as powerful discussions about the revolutionary narratives in many video games. You will catch his first review coming soon in “The Wired Revolution Act I: How Metaphor ReFantazio Shows The Power Of Collective Action.”

Introduction To IGN (In Game Narratives)

In the public mind, a video game is Minecraft or Fortnite — pure play. But here at IGN (In-Game Narratives), we are devoted to exploring games that make us weep, let out cries of joy, and feel ravenous hate. Stories in games across nearly all genres have evolved to evoke profound emotions in the player. From Return to Monkey Island to Kingdom Hearts, we love a good story in a game. If you feel the same way, you have found a home here!