BY CHARLES BATTERSBY | Video games are still behind other media when it comes to being respected as a form of narrative art — but there are designers who excel at creating story-driven interactive experiences which allow players to explore richly detailed worlds, speak with compelling characters, and learn the histories of fictional cultures. Accompanying this year’s usual new crop of mindless shooters, monster-killers, and phone-tapping time wasters will be games whose stories will engross players in their worlds.
THE LAST GUARDIAN | Release Date: TBA, 2016
Team Ico is a developer that has made cult hits like “Ico” and “Shadow of the Colossus” by employing non-verbal narrative storytelling. Their characters rarely speak — and when they do, it is in inhuman languages, or just saying each other’s names. “Ico” and “Colossus” told tales of ruined kingdoms, heroic sacrifice, and the selfish refusal to let a loved one pass on — all without directly saying anything. Players had to observe their surroundings, and extrapolate the history of these characters and their worlds.
In Team Ico’s next game, “The Last Guardian,” players control a human boy who befriends Trico — a giant bird/dog/cat monster. The two of them will need each other’s help to escape a crumbling castle. Because Trico is a giant animal that doesn’t speak, players will have to figure out how to give him instructions, and read his body language to guess what he wants. The game has no definite release date, but is coming sometime in 2016. In the meantime, the developer’s older games are available on PlayStation 2 and 3.
DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED | Release Date: August, 2016
The first game in this series arrived in 2000, before futuristic dystopias were all the rage, and it was ominously prophetic about the 21st century. Players took control of a cybernetically-augmented government agent who had to unravel a global spider web of conspiracies. What sets the “Deus Ex” franchise apart from the crowd is that almost any obstacle can be circumvented through stealth, hacking, negotiation, or non-lethal weapons. Of course, if players want to shoot their way through life, they can do that too.
The fourth game in the series, “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided,” will focus on how cybernectically-augmented people (“Augs”) are being discriminated against by the rest of humanity. Like the best of science fiction, the story is a metaphor for real world issues, with Augs standing in for any oppressed group.
“Mankind Divided” is a direct sequel to the last game, “Human Revolution.” The series, thus far, still holds up, and is highly recommended for cyberpunk and conspiracy enthusiasts.
MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA
Release Date: Fall, 2016
“Mass Effect” is a science fiction series that has three prior games. The original trilogy is a masterwork of galaxy-spanning storytelling, during which players guide a single character through hundreds of hours of adventures. What makes this trilogy particularly engrossing is that players shape the story by deciding what their character will do at certain points in the game, and these decisions carry over through each game in the series. Friends and lovers can die along the way, and galactic politics can shift based on what the player chooses to do.
This year, fans are getting another installment in the series. The details are being kept secret, but it is known that this game introduces a new playable protagonist. The previous games created a vast galaxy full of alien civilizations, each with their own history and culture, so there is a great deal left to explore out there.
“Mass Effect: Andromeda” is a new direction for the franchise, but the team at Bioware has rarely made missteps, so it’s a title to look out for. Science fiction fans who haven’t tried the older “Mass Effect” games should leap into the trilogy now, to be caught up in time for the fall release of “Andromeda.”
QUANTUM BREAK
Release Date: April 2016, exclusively for Xbox One
Plenty of video games have heroes who can control time, but Remedy Entertainment popularized this effect with “Max Payne,” a third-person shooter game. Released in 2001, it was about an ex-cop who would enter a stylish slow-motion mode during gunfights. Aside from the “bullet time” effect, “Max Payne” also has an excellent story, with a hard-boiled narrative delivered by its surprisingly eloquent killing machine. Remedy’s next game, “Alan Wake,” was about a verbose novelist trapped in a horror story that he wrote. Of course it was riddled with loquacious narration, and clever plot twists.
Remedy’s upcoming game, “Quantum Break,” is about a man who gains the ability to control time, and must use it fight the minions of a ruthless corporation from the future. Given Remedy’s history of combining gunplay with storytelling, this should be one of the most thoughtful action games of the coming year.
DREAMFALL CHAPTERS
Release Date: TBA, 2016
In 1999, point-and-click adventure games were at their most popular, and many players still insist that the genre hit its high point with that year’s “The Longest Journey.” It was about a woman who could shift between two worlds. One was a fantasy realm, and the other was a futuristic city right out of science fiction. It got a sequel in 2006 called “Dreamfall,” but that game ended in a cliffhanger.
This final installment in the series is called “Dreamfall Chapters,” a five-part “episodic” game. The first of these five chapters arrived in 2014, and the fourth in December 2015.
With its blend of sci-fi and fantasy, the game appeals to a wide audience. The series has three playable characters, and gamers will certainly find themselves drawn to at least one. New players should have enough time to try both of the previous games before this magnificent 17-year journey reaches its end.
