Oct 10, 1:40 pm
I remember being told as a child that there are only seven stories in the world and that they are simply reused and rephrased. I felt this was pretty sad, I mean no one wants to be able to know every story just because they have encountered the core few that make up all others. It would ruin every surprise ending, destroy all sense of surprise, and make being a writer a pretty easy job. I really hoped it could just not be true, but the other day I was reminded of the feeling of story ending despair.
I was contemplating Prey at the time and I was thinking about the game as a whole, what happens in it? Well you get to kill stuff, there are lots of simple logic puzzles involving moving blocks about, and you can become a spirit for all those tricky situations. I then suddenly realised that this description works perfectly well for Soul Reaver, not only a classic game but also a personal favourite.
I was genuinely saddened by this, are we doomed to using the same concepts over and over again, is the only way out to make games with no story that simply follow mundane and everyday tasks such as Cooking Mama? Or are there more stories out there? I have to say I don’t feel I have played a game with a really gripping story in quite a while, which is a shame.
So go on gamers of the world, suggest me a game that is a real page turner, a game that will keep me up until I fall asleep with it in my hands (only to wish I had bought the soft back version), a game that will reinstate my love of a rollicking good yarn!
Go on, I dare ya.
