About the nomination
Someone will say that a good game does not need a plot, and even quote John Karmak's famous statement about porn films. Really, Tetris , "Sapper" and solitaire "Kosynka" perfectly without history in general. But it is precisely the compound of the narrative with gameplay that makes video games a real art!
In this nomination, we recall those projects of the outgoing decade that have clearly shown: games are able to tell really cool stories. Yes, and they do it as neither films nor books can never.
Tenth place – Detroit: Become Human (2018)
Quantic Dream studio games have something to scold: gameplay in them – the cat rolletto casino cried, and the scripts, to put it mildly, are naive, and the development of the characters suffers. This applies to absolutely all David Cage projects, including, of course, and Detroit: Become Human. But this is what the authors have Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy And Heavy Rain You can’t take it exactly, these are the ability to grow incredibly complex and branched plot trees on a meager scenario soil-to make games where each solution really means something for the heroes and for the player. Detroit is the top of their skill.
Even a short demo version offers so many options for the development of events that you can only see them all times from the sixth. But this is a very small scene: one location of three rooms and heels of characters. And most importantly, throughout the game, each choice made and each chosen replica keep in tension, forced to empathize and cause genuine emotions. Of course, the realization comes soon that the developers are simply shamelessly manipulating these very emotions, the social problems of Detroit of the future are shown too clumsy, but demonstrative moralizing and murderous seriousness are not the best satellites of a good scenario, but … is it so important if you play Detroit anyway interesting over time, and every new passage can give completely new impressions?
Ninth place – Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)
Lucas POUP is one of those rare talents who, with their creativity, promotes the entire industry of the video game forward. And although he is far from as famous as the same John Karmak or Hideo Kojima, for the evolution of the art of game design, his small projects with deliberately schematic graphics did no less than Doom or Metal Gear Solid. The general public spoke about the Creator-single in 2013 with the exit Papers, Please. The simulator of a migration official in a totalitarian state did without a gameplay – know yourself to put the press on the documents – but managed to tell a very complex and difficult story using a minimum of means. And five years later Return of the Obra Dinn only confirmed the reputation of the UPA as a master to build a rally.
The main character is the next small clerk: an insurance inspector who is investigating the reasons for the disappearance of passengers and the crew of the Sailing vessel “Dynn”. He is armed with a magic clock that allow him to unwind time ago and observe the last moments of the life of people whose remains lie all over the ship. And it is from these static scenes and fragmentary dialogues that we gradually compose the overall picture of the incident. Moreover, the story itself in the spirit of adventure novels of the 19th century is not too impressive – it is quite standard. But its presentation through the search for grains of information, the study of the ship, the magnificent work with the sound (which is only a splash of waves and the creak of the deck!) and a terrible monochrome picture deserves real applause.
Let's hope the next game of the Upa will not have to wait another five years.
Eighth place – Nier: Automata (2017)
At first glance Nier: Automata -A typical Japanese slasher, which is not much different from some Devil May Cry. Here are just for a delusional appearance by characters, unimaginable pathos, tons of special effects, schizophazia dialogs and other anime tinsel, an unexpectedly deep and complex story is hidden. The main thing is to get to the bottom of it. But to do it oh how difficult it is.
The fact is that in order to get a complete idea of Laura and the plot of the game, it will have to go at least three times (given that each passage takes twenty hours). Moreover, each time you need to carefully look around, listen and think, and not wait for the cunning Taro Yoko, the father of the Nier series, will bring you all the answers on the saucer. The narrative here is woven with the outside world: the post-apocalyptic land is now inhabited by robots that formed something like cargo cults around the things that remained from humanity. Watching them, delving into the conversations of the heroes, reading between the lines, the inquisitive player will be a drop by a drop to figure out what happened before and what is happening now. Unless, of course, does not miss the next ambiguous character of the character, trying to look under the skirt of Gothic Lolita with a giant katana.
Seventh place – Spec Ops: The Line (2012)
The last part of the long (and in some primitive times is also quite decent) a series of tactical shooters Spec OPS turned out to be very mediocre, and not a particularly tactical shooting. Gameplay she was a pale shadow GEARS of WAR, Passed by high complexity in less than half a day, and in terms of quality the picture lagged behind the progress of the year by three. The thing is that, creating Spec Ops: The Line , The developers first of all thought about the schedule and not about the artificial intelligence of enemies. The central links of this game is the plot and its presentation. A rather non -trivial solution for a typical, seemingly TPS for cool American soldiers in the Middle East.
The story here, in general, is not new: we have already seen all this in "Apocalypse Today". Only Coppola concentrates attention on the horrors of war as such, and Yager Development – on how an ordinary service person is experiencing them. In the fantastically atmospheric decorations of Dubai, abandoned and brought by sand, a very personal drama unfolds, which raises the simplest and most cruel questions at the same time: about the principle of less evil, about goals and means, about the limit of human capabilities. Moreover, the game is not just abstract philosophically philosophizing. She literally makes the player kill unarmed, use biological weapons to save his life, and make many other ethically dubious decisions.
The most straightforward, cruel and angry game in this collection. À la Guerrere Comme à la Guerrere.
Sixth place – Bioshock Infinite (2013)
And here Bioshock Infinite , Unlike Spec Ops: The Line, is still a damn cool shooter: beautiful, dynamic and diverse. At first, it seems that the bright and air Colombia, which literally soars somewhere in the clouds, has nothing to do with an abandoned and gloomy underwater delight, where we walked in the previous two parts. However, understanding comes very quickly: anti-utopia remains at any height, and the residents of this flying castle are no less than that of the unfortunate people who were locked in a fairy-tale city under a thickness of sea waters. But, as you know, Bioshock Infinite was not at all due to the fact that it again raises the battered topics of social inequality, slavery and hypocritical nature of the authorities.
It's all about the concept of parallel realities between which our charming Elizabeth companion can move freely with the help of portals. This system works so elegant and unobtrusively that at first you do not even perceive it as something serious. Although in fact everything is much more complicated here than in any Portal, But the player does not know about it – and he seeks gradually, along with the main character, Boker Devitt. True, this insight is very relative, since only new questions generate. How many memories can fit in one head? Who are the twins (and the twins?) Letest? Is it possible to build the events of the plot of the game and its backstory in one straight line at all? Think for yourself – or look for answers here if you are not afraid of spoilers.
Whatever conclusions you come to, it is difficult to argue with the fact that Bioshock Infinite is the best plot FPS for decades and just a game with one of the most puzzling endings in history.
Fifth place – Tales from the borderlands (2014)
If Detroit: Become Human is a pretentious Hollywood blockbuster, dear, beautiful and trying to seem deeper than he really is, then Tales from the borderlands -This is an adventurous science fiction sitcom. Hilariously ridiculous, exciting and stunning even without any flirting with social satire or wise philosophy. To enjoy Tales from the borderlands, it is not at all necessary to love the original series of shooters-and indeed at least you know something about it. The insane post -apocalyptic Pandora will still fall in love with you in the first couple of hours of the game, and the bright personalities of the two notorious lines of Riza and Fiona are best suited for this setting.
By mechanics, this is a typical game Telltale : episodic interactive cinema with an endless series of elections, which, by nothing, do not affect. The main thing that distinguishes it from other studio projects is a brilliant script without exaggeration. It is written so talented and witty that it stretches the whole gameplay primitive. Moreover: the adventures that unfold on the screen are so breathtaking on their own that they do not want to interrupt them either for shooting, or dreary unraveling the puzzles, but to squeeze the QTE or exchange with someone in the dialogs does not bother. This scenario could well become the basis for a real series, and the series of good – and this is not enough about which game can be said with a clear conscience.
It was in Tales from the Borderlands that the Telltale team squeezed the maximum from the simple genre in which she always worked. The developers turned out to be a cheerful, diverse and in a good way crazy game-and it is not ashamed to call it, perhaps, the best creation of the studio.
Fourth place – Disco Elysium (2019)
Surprisingly, but Disco Elysium – The only RPG in this rating. And this damn eloquently testifies to which pit appeared by the end of the decade. We almost forgot that role -playing games are not obliged to be reduced to the grind of thousands of monsters, endless pumping and knocking out loot more abruptly. After all, RPG is not only, excuse me for the directness, chewing gum from Bethesda And BioWare ; This is perhaps the deepest and most diverse game genre that is fraught with unlimited scope for experiments and searching for new experience. Narrativ, the development of heroes and playing the role in the role -playing game are no less important than the fighting and clothes. Fortunately, Estonians from the studio did not forget about this ZA/UM.
Disco Elysium does not have a fight at all, but the shins – more than enough. And you can sometimes talk to them, and some, like a acid tie, can even give good advice. There will be a lot to talk here with what, including very unexpected objects and even abstract concepts. The hero communicates not only with the surrounding characters, but also with himself, leading endless mental disputes, in which the contradictory constituent persons are fighting. Intelligence wants one, empathy of another; intuition pulls one way, logic – into the other.
It is these dialogs with the naked essence of things, emotions and feelings that create the atmosphere of controlled madness, which once distinguished Planescape: Torment from her colleagues in the genre. Only ZA/UM is even further in your desire to deconstruct the RPG genre itself. And, the most pleasant thing, Disco Elysium at the same time manages not to slide down in the trash, to remain an integral and unimaginably deeply thought -out role -playing game, where every detail and any object have not only gameplay, but also a narrative purpose.
Third place – to the Moon (2011)
Few people could ruin the plot, and moreover: the plot itself is able to make a game from almost nothing. To the moon – A vivid example of this. Formally, we have before us one of the thousands of JRPG, collected in the RPG Maker editor, even if it differs from most amateur crafts with a neat picture, penetrating music and a very warm, melancholy atmosphere. In fact, there is almost nothing to play here: neither fights, no action, nor even a built -in sicolator of dates. We just explore compact levels, solve simple puzzles and talk a lot, many. There is to the Moon in just four hours – but what four hours!
During this time, almost the whole life that a dying old man named Johnny has lived in front of us. We will visit the most significant moments of his story to inspire him only one thing: Johnny visited the moon. It was like that was his impossible dream – and we need to make the hero be able to pass the happy. Watch how decrepit old man gets younger, turns into an elderly, then mature man, a young man and, finally, the child is exciting, sad and touching at the same time. Neither Telltale nor Quantic Dream could achieve this level of emotional involvement of the player in their works. All decided the talent of Cana Gao and his small team Freebird.
Second place – Firewatch (2016)
With all their obvious differences, according to gameplay philosophy Firewatch In many ways it looks like to the moon. There is also very little gaming process: for that, it is a “walking simulator” to take exclusively atmosphere, environment and dialogs. And developers from Campo Santo There is more than a combination of these three elements in order to maintain the player in some kind of trance throughout the game.
Firewatch does not differ particularly technological picture, but the local forest sometimes looks so bewitching that during the game you can almost live the smells of the resin and the sun heated by the sun. And most importantly, the creators of Firewatch so accurately conveyed a feeling of complete isolation and staying alone with you that a few minutes after the start of the passage, you just stop separating yourself from Henry, the main character of the game.
Henry's wife suffers from early dementia, and he is from his powerlessness, inability to help and a heap of related problems, which have no solution. The work of the forester was the last way for him to escape from all this and at least be a little to forget what Delaila helps him – his colleague with a neighboring fire tower, which he knows only as a barren voice in a walkie -talkie. All that remains the player is to roam the deserted forest paths, to perform simple working tasks of an ordinary forester and talk with Delaila on the radio. But the characters are so deeply worked out, and simple dialogs are so well written that the additional elements of the gameplay would only violate this harmony of minimalism.
In overloaded information and the events of the world where we all live, it is very difficult to find such a quiet angle that you can stop there and hear your own thoughts. It is this amazing experience of silence that Firewatch gives.
First place – What Remains of Edith Finch (2017)
Death is the simplest and most terrible event that can happen to a person, and indeed any living creature. In games, we are constantly faced with the death of the heroes, often we ourselves serve its cause, and many projects are even built around the death of the character as a special mechanics. But only if in any Dark Souls This means a small, but still defeat, then in What Remains of Edith Finch Leaving is the main task that the player needs to complete the whole thirteen times.
A terrible story has been transmitted in the Fin for a hundred years: family members are sure that they are amazed at the birth curse. And young Edith – the last surviving bearer of this surname – you need to figure out how and from which all her many brothers, aunts and great -grandfathers died one by one after another. Whether this curse exists in fact? Or his victims, about which Edith was talking about all his childhood by his grandmother, themselves brought to themselves the trouble that they believed in him?
You don’t have to go far for answers: all of them are enclosed in the walls of her generic nest, a huge and awkward house of Finch, which was completed and changed for themselves whole generations of the girl's family. Edith has to study the intricate labyrinth of his corridors, with secret moves to penetrate the sealed rooms of deceased relatives – few of them lived at least until adulthood – and see every death from the face of a deceased person.
In fact, the player has to kill all the characters with his own hands, one after another. It sounds, of course, terribly, but in fact, the What Remains of Edith Finch is more likely melancholic than gloomy. She does not revel in the tragedies, but retells them with colorful allegories and hints, leaving after every death only bright sadness. The game – like, in essence, the house itself, turned into a family memorial – tells more about how people lived than about how they died.
In a giant surreal mansion, they seemed to meet Gone Home And Myst, But you should not wait for cerebral puzzles – you are offered only to be nearby, as if by leading the heroes to their inevitable denouement. Moreover: it is exactly how you lead each of the Finchas to death, and the magic of the game is concluded. No story is like another, and therefore every time it comes to you what exactly will have to be done with another character, goosebumps run around the back. Each death has its own scenario and its own gameplay mechanics, so closely related to narrative that it will simply not work to feel outsiders in any of these episodes.
What Remains of Edith Finch is one of the few games that use the potential of this interactive media as much as possible. What is happening in a couple of hours of this story cannot really be rewritten on paper or showing in the cinema-this can only be survived by passing the game yourself. Developers from Giant Sparrow They clearly showed how to merge the gameplay and the plot – and therefore we have the best narrative game of the outgoing decade.