Sometimes, it’s hard not to see games as perennial underachievers. There are many entertaining experiences out there, yes – but occasionally the medium feels far too risk-averse to realise its true potential. There will, of course, always be a place for score-chasing romps and time-wasting toys, but titles like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice illustrate how truly affecting this medium can be. And it’s something we’ve always appreciated about Sony’s first-party output.
“We like the big story,” Worldwide Studios president Shawn Layden said as part of a panel at GameLab in Barcelona. “We like the narrative. We want to make people think and laugh and cry and get to know the characters and worlds we create. Hopefully you want to live in those worlds for a long time and listen to the stories the characters have to tell.”
He added: “For us, our entertainment medium is really about, can we move you? Can we get you to have a new thought, to see a new thing? I think that if you look at all of our games, that’s the one thing that knits it all together.”
It’s not the only thing Sony does, of course – there are still “traditional” games in its portfolio, like Everybody’s Golf and Knack 2. But we’d argue the organisation is at its best when it’s pairing interactivity with story-telling, and using that unique combination to make you feel something. Perhaps we – along with Layden – sound a bit pretentious, but it’d be a shame to see this medium stagnate, because there’s so much more potential in it than hopping on the heads of turtles.
[source venturebeat.com]
Comments 37
Many games both by Sony and Nintendo makes me laugh (usually with the time-wasting toys, I love games that are really games and proud to be games, so toys basically), Child of Eden always makes me cry (it often makes me so much ecstatic that I cry because of that), Ico and Eternal darkness made me think.
Anyway, in my opinion there should always be many games that are much less focused on their narratives. Some story driven games are good, but when they become too many at the expense of others something is lost. Something important for me. This is the thing that I really dislike about Sony - don't get me wrong I like Sony as a whole I don't want people to misunderstand me, I just don't like how much effort they put mostly on games that heavily focuses on stories and narratives. I'd like their offering to be more balanced with some more high budget games of a different kind too.
The key is variety.
I find games that walk the "Experience" line can potentially fall apart if they do it poorly.
And yeah, there is more to games than jumping on turtles. Like possessing innocent humans and a t-rex. But what's wrong with simple? If every game was a cinematic emotional experience, you'd be fatigued.
And what we tend to get is a Netflix drama wrapped around a semi-open world with RPG-lite elements. I dunno, games can do better than this I think.
If you're pushing narrative you should take a leaf from Nier Automata. It knows it's a game first and foremost and uses that attribute to push the narrative even further. I'm sure Death Stranding will do the same...assuming it remembers it's a game.
@Knuckles-Fajita "If every game was a cinematic emotional experience, you'd be fatigued."
I agree, but that kind of game represents a miniscule portion of the industry's output. The vast majority of games, big in budget or small, are completely throwaway. Which I personally find quite frustrating.
@kyleforrester87 "And what we tend to get is a Netflix drama wrapped around a semi-open world with RPG-lite elements. I dunno, games can do better than this I think."
Yep, it's unfortunate. Like I say, the industry is underachieving.
@kyleforrester87 Death Stranding is a game. There are inputs. Well, one. Walk. Dunno about the rest of it. Announced 2015 and we are questioning how much of it is game....wow.
I think a big thing with games like this is pace. Let's stick with Kojima, one of my favourites to point out, because the man forgets he is making a game.
Look at MGS4. A 72 minute cutscene. Heck on PS Now that will probably kick you for inactivity.
@get2sammyb Agreed, but if I had to choose a "frustrating" situation, I'd rather have games that are light on story, like the way it is now, than a lot of games that are heavy on story and do it poorly or forget about making a good game around it.
This is always a topic I usually struggle to describe. I'm perfectly fine with games striving to be more than fun time wasters, because I'm similarly frustrated at the stigma that games are just like toys. However, I don't want games to lose the enjoyability factor in translation. I think there should be a balance between being thought provoking and being enjoyable to play. Not necessarily "fun" in the traditional sense, but not boring or frustrating enough to make you quit playing. That's actually why I'm huge Metal Gear fan.
I don't think there's any real danger of that. Games like Uncharted don't forget that they're games at the end of the day. But I'd rather not have most non-RPG, "artistic" games be some simple thing that doesn't ask much of the player.
Agree with sony here, before, it just a kid hobby, a hobby that I plan to leave behind after I grow-up. But the first time I play metal gear solid on psx I know gaming will be my lifelong hobby, that it will be bigger and better than movies.
I enjoy a huge variety of games. At the moment, I'm enjoying Lumines Remastered and Hitman, and in the future I'll be playing Spider-Man, Overcooked 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Tetris Effect. As much as I enjoy games with grand stories and thought provoking themes, I also love the other end of the spectrum. I like a lot of the games Sony makes, and I'm all for games being complex and providing more than just fun, but I think it's important we have the level of variety that's evident right now.
This is what draws me to PlayStation.
A game being just fun isn’t enough for me. I’ll play a game like that for 10, 15 maybe 20 hours, but if it’s a game that has a story I care about, has a world I want to explore & has likeable character then I’ll play that game over & over.
The Last Guardian is not fun to play. It’s intentionally infuriating at times, but it’s still one my favourite games of this gen.
Can't agree more.
Hands down Sony make the games I want to play the most.
Personally I don't want interactive movies where you have minimal interaction or walking sims. I don't want games that feel 'clunky' but may have a good story and would rather have a game with a cliched or even forgettable story if the game-play is excellent or at the very least 'fun'. I wouldn't say Far Cry 5's story is 'great' but I still enjoyed playing the 'game'. Destiny too has 'little' story but the game-play is solid and fun too.
Of course if you can have a great story with great characters and 'good' game-play, fantastic! However I can watch a movie if Story was the most important factor. As I said, if they can manage to write a great story, with great characters and make a great 'game' then that is likely to be on my wanted list but it must have great game-play for me too...
@KratosMD in my opinion, probably Sony is much better in this particular genre than in others, and that would be perfectly fine. The problem is that right now everybody, not just Sony but third party developers too, are all focused in this kind of games when it comes to high budget games. So in the end all those games tend to be very similar and to not offer a varied enough experience. That's unfortunate and it is not a fault of Sony of course but of the industry in general. Many people appreciate those games anyway so this formula today is very succesful anyway, but those who want more variety feel that something is missing. I'm not saying that it must be Sony the one who make games of different genres, as I said they probably are much better at story driven adventures than anything else (just like Nintendo is best at platformers and arcade games than other genres) but there should be at least somebody else amongst the 3rd party developers who try to do high budget games of a different kind.
@3MonthBeef Or just a coincidence?
So where's Ape Escape? >.>
This is exactly why - unless things go spectacularly wrong at some point - PlayStation will always be my console of choice. Their character and story-driven, single-player output is second to none.
I mean, some of the scenes in The Last of Us, including that opening... just incredible.
@kyleforrester87 I think God of War also did a great job of remembering it's gameness as well. The combat felt amazing and you could actually explore the environment.
@kyleforrester87 "If you're pushing narrative you should take a leaf from Nier Automata." I gotta play this still... now is a good time during my lull of games to play as I've been playing Mad Max (which is okay, but pretty repetitive--I like the driving though).
I enjoy games where the characters grab me emotionally in the story. I can't play them all the time, but I do love them. TLOU is one of my all-time favorites for this reason. I enjoy the new Tomb Raider games for Lara's character as much as the gameplay. Same with the UC series, especially UC:TLL.
But I also enjoy games for being games. I'm old-school and grew up on platformers and dungeon crawlers. I enjoy Unravel and Journey and Child of Light type games.
Who am I kidding? I'm a gamer gurl nut who finds herself sitting in her underwear drinking whiskey playing videos for hours.
@kyleforrester87 Good reminder that I need to give Nier another try this summer.
@starhops I would probably pass out after the first hour lol.
I always enjoy a great narrative, also I don’t understand why so many people complain when a game is focused on narrative, there is nothing wrong with that. Not everything should be open-world, multiplayer focused, etc. The gaming industry today has a big variety of games and genres, let’s keep that way.
@Octane More gaming than whiskey! LOL My good friend and I have a running commentary on going home and playing video games in our underwear and drinking whiskey. Which is true on occasion, but not the norm. Sheesh, I'd be a wreck!
@KratosMD Puppeteer, now that’s a great example of an underrated gem. It wasn’t a smart move to release at the same month of GTA V, that happened in 2013.
If I could ask something for Sony, I would love more games like Puppeteer, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Tearaway and Gravity Rush, one of my favorite series.
These games are not considered blockbusters with huge productions, that’s why big multiplat developers don’t take a risk with these titles anymore. At the same time, they are considered too big for indie developers. Yoko Taro said something similar on PS Blog about these “mid-tier” games.
We had more of that last generation: Shadows of the Damned, Catherine, Vanquish, Deadly Premonition, etc.
I believe Sony is on position to make more games like these, we could still play a new Sly Cooper this generation.
This is why I love Sony! The continued commitment to the art and potential of video games to connect with players and create a profound experience that transcends the simple joy of playing a game.
...but please, no more forced walking scenarios peppered with exposition, lol. I'd rather watch a cutscene movie that's skippable if needed. Sony aren't the only ones that do it, but it's my biggest pet peeve in story-driven games! It may seem more "immersive" but for me, it's not. In fact, it's more suffocating and uncomfortable to play as a character who suddenly walks like their legs weigh a ton.
More games need to do what God of War did. It had a great story, but it never forgot that it was a video game, and it was very fun to play the whole time.
This is a bit random, but I really wish more RPGs would be set in our modern world (it can vary a bit, such as being set in the 80's or 50's or whatever) and include urban exploration, like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines does. Obviously it had a bunch of crazy supernatural stuff in it, but it was still in our world, and you could go to clubs, go up the elevator to various floors and search people's rooms in an apartment complex, travel underground through the sewers. etc etc. There was something so immersive about being grounded in smaller environments than most open world games, but having a huge amount of freedom in what you could do in those environments. It also had fantastic story, characters, and lore. It didn't take itself too seriously, but that game felt so real in some way, which made the story that much better, and I wish more games did that. Experiences like that in gaming are hard to come by.
Highly, highly recommend it. It's an older game (I believe 2002-2004 or so), so most PC's that aren't a pile of garbage can run it fine. I recommend looking up the guide for installing the unofficial patch on the Steam community page for that game though, because it's an absolute necessity. The game is basically broken without it.
@kyleforrester87 I agree. I buy games to, ya'know play games not to watch movies.
@PS_Nation I agree but the puppeteer did not sell, gravity rush did not sell, tearaway did not sell. Sad to see but that is the reality. And then you have Farcry i dont remember any of the main characters the story was forgettable and it sells. Great games a lot of the time dont sell. Look at Fortnite its nothing no story, free for all with respawn, microtransactions make people spend more then on a full release game.. 😑
I did all of those playing The Witcher 3.
Playstation really has a knack for stories, pun not intended. For me, a game needs to move me, it need to sink down to the bottom and lift me off. Playing a game isn't enough, I need a story and now that Devs have gained the ability to create cinematic stories in huge landscapes, it's impossible to say no.
I just want a good game and so far, I have nothing to complain. God of War was amazing, Detroit was emotionally melting, I loved it. Spider-Man is next. We still have Ghost, The Last of Us, Days Gone and others. You can't ignore Playstation with a lineup this strong.
@wiiware Movies are nice indeed but i agree they come no where near gaming.
@kyleforrester87 Sorry mate but the Last of Us still to me is one of my biggest games ever nothing comes close to this story. Nier is fantastic but the doesnt even come close. 😁
@Flaming_Kaiser fair enough!
@kyleforrester87 I do agree we can use some more game games i think Sony should try to get some smaller studio's not everything needs a 100 million budget. The PS1 and PS2 had some of those. I dont know if you ever played Legend of Legaia and Koudelka on the PS1. I think the Dark Cloud series from the PS2 should be easy to do ill take a remake or a good remaster without a doubt. And some nice platformers. Legend of Dragoon has to happen ill die happy if i can play a good remake. 😉
PS nice to hear normal response you dont get those a lot. And yes i agree to a point we need some game games. Syphon Filter a Socom would be great for the fanbase again i dont think all the games need to have a blockbuster budget. Give us a Twisted Metal 2 World Tour damn i loved that game it was fun even more with the build in cheats. 😆😉
@KirbyTheVampire You should try Vampyr its not the best looking game but its so much fun. 😁
@PS_Nation Er need some midtier games Dark Cloud maybe. 😁
@Flaming_Kaiser I plan to buy it, hopefully before the year is over. Combat looks a little rough, but everything else looks right up my alley.
@KratosMD Fair comment about knack et al. What I think Sony have realised is that the games they were pumping out like Pupeteer, knack and gravity rush which have sold relatively poorly are all pretty juvenile. The target market for Sony gamers is now more than likely 18-50 year olds who are better off but time poor rather than the 3+ every genre covered of yesteryear. Suffice the move towards more story focused mature games.
Its a smart move and does make the competition look childish in comparison.
@Flaming_Kaiser There are many examples of great midtier games: Team ICO games, Okami, Beyond Good & Evil, etc. They are among my favorite games. Btw, I still need to play Dark Cloud, heard great things about it.
Yakuza, God of War, Horizon, Uncharted, Tomb Raider... All good examples of games that I think focus on narrative but still have enough 'game' around them. Resident Evil 2 remake also looks like it will fall in line with those. I like Sony's approach, it's worked well for the last 10 years or so. If I want something that's a little less story but fantastic gameplay I'll just go to Nintendo.
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