onionberry said:
Nah, could be an indie game too. For example, life is strange is not a technical marvel but it's part of this generation. |
In that case, going by release years instead of technological level, I think the game from this era (meaning in essence the last four years or so) that had the best story was Gone Home. It's a coming-of-age story that tries something other than one spin or another on the Catcher in the Rye message (i.e. maturation means embracing the future rather than getting too caught up in nostalgia). You can see variations on that theme in several of the great contemporary coming-of-age graphic adventures: Life is Strange, Oxenfree, Night in the Woods. The recent game Night in the Woods I thought had a particularly good spin on that message, suggesting that it applies not only to individuals, but also to whole societies, which I think is very apt at this particular time wherein we want to make America great again and such. But Gone Home instead suggested that one should follow their heart regardless of the cost. The story concludes with [spoiler alert] the story's two major characters giving up their future, or at least putting it on hold for sure, in order to be together. And nobody dies as a result or anything. :P [/spoiler]. I thought that was bolder, and also more emotionally impactful, and that it was made more impactful by the fact that [bonus spoiler] it's a same-sex relationship instead of the usual heterosexual ones, which was especially rare and bold back in 2013, when same-sex marriage was still illegal in most of this country (including my state) [/spoiler 2].
In design terms, I also think Gone Home is among the boldest games ever made. It rejects all conventional gaming challenges, featuring no enemies to fight, no puzzles to solve, no proper collectibles to amass, no platforms to jump, or anything of that nature, and it manages to do so without at all becoming just an antiseptic simulation game with no story, characters, or sense of adventure per se. Instead, the whole game revolves around its emotional story, which is conveyed purely through environmental storytelling. On top of that, the developers at Fullbright opted for a realistic (and for me also nostalgic) setting, believable characters, and rejected any supernatural or science fiction elements, which is extremely rare for adventure video games. It was in all these ways an audacious game that dared to suggest that it's okay for games to be genuinely realistic and genuinely emotional; just genuine in general.
Perhaps the best current-gen competition for Gone Home narratively that I can think of for my taste would be That Dragon, Cancer, which is actually a true story told by the people who lived it. You can't get much more true to life than that! I think we need more games that are truly about real life, and not always in a purely metafictional or antiseptic way. Still though, Gone Home's setting and characters hit a little closer to home for me personally, so that's how I decide between those two.
