How Games Tell Tales, Part 5: Bloodborne and Imagined Narratives
In this fifth instalment of How Games Tell Tales, I will discuss how games can tell stories without actually telling a story at all. I will explore how a game such as Bloodborne can create a narrative that players collectively imagine through exploration, vague hints, and atmosphere.
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How Games Tell Tales, Part 4: Unreliable Narration, Militainment, and Spec Ops: The Line
In this fourth installment of How Games Tell Tales, I will discuss how games portray unreliable narration. Using Spec Ops: The Line as an example, I will show that the hyperreality of video games influences how an unreliable story can be experienced. I will also discuss the criticism this game has of military entertainment.
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Detroit: Become Human and its Problematic Relation to History
This article is a continuation of the last article on Detroit: Become Human. In it I explore the game’s controversial relation with references to historical forms of oppression, as well as the lead developer’s (lack of) answers to this situation.
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How Games Tell Tales, Part 3: Detroit: Become Human, Freedom of Choice, and Intended Play
In this third installment of How Games Tell Tales, I will discuss games that offer a large amount of player input. Using Detroit: Become Human as an example, I will explore how such choices can work, how most choices are not as meaningful as they seem, and how this intertwines with the concept of intended play.
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The Manor Lords demo: our verdict
A few weeks back, the long awaited historical city-building RTS Manor Lords had a demo available through the Steam Next Fest. Oomzer, our in-house city-building connaisseur was looking forward to this for quite some time. What did he think of it? Read it below!
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How Games Tell Tales, Part 2: Nioh and Historical Simulation
In this second installment of How Games Tell Tales, I will discuss a particular aspect of video games: simulation. By using some theories on historical simulation, I will use Nioh as an example of how games can represent history and mythology.
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How Games Tell Tales, Part 1: The Last of Us, Hyperreality, and Player Control
In this new series, I will explore how games tell stories differently than other media. We start by looking at how games use immersion and player control, with The Last of Us as the main example.
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To Be Continued…..as a Movie: Games and Transmedia Storytelling
While video games are a unique narrative medium, they have plenty in common with media like movies and books. So much in common, in fact, that they can tell the same stories, in a style of storytelling that is referred to as transmedia. But what is transmedia storytelling?
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Introducing the VALUE intern!
A new intern has arrived at VALUE! You can expect articles from me, as well as appearances on Streaming The Past. I will also be holding a survey. But who am I even?
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