Best Narrative of 2023 - Article
by Taneli Palola , posted on 19 January 2024 / 3,364 Views
This year's best video game narratives once again showcased the possibilities of the medium in creating captivating stories in a variety of different ways, but did so under very familiar names or styles. Alan Wake II, Baldur's Gate III, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Final Fantasy XVI are all part of established franchises. The lone exception, Sea of Stars, is very much cut from the classic 16-bit JRPG cloth, and wears those influences on its sleeve. Yet, just because the names and styles might be familiar, that by no means stops them from weaving some extraordinary and memorable tales for people to lose themselves in.
The Shortlist:
Alan Wake II
Baldur's Gate III
Sea of Stars
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Final Fantasy XVI
The Runner-Up:
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The runner-up for the Best Narrative of 2023 is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Bringing us back to the same setting we already explored aplenty in Breath of the Wild naturally created some challenges for the sequel with regards to how to keep the game feeling fresh. The solution was to not only add literal new layers to the world map, but also push the narrative into darker depths. Narrative has often been a secondary concern in The Legend of Zelda games, by design of course, but in Tears of the Kingdom it was given much greater emphasis and thought than in most past entries in the series, and the result is one of the franchise's most gripping tales to-date.
The Winner:
Alan Wake II
In the end, the best narrative of the year is also one of the darkest and strangest, courtesy of Remedy Entertainment and Alan Wake II. The long-anticipated sequel picked up from where the first game left off, with Alan Wake still trapped in the Dark Place, looking for a way out, but in addition we were introduced to a new protagonist in Saga Anderson, and this switching dual perspective was at the core of the story.
Alan Wake II did an excellent job creating two distinct yet complementary storylines for its protagonists, finding ways to make each feel unique and rewarding, while at the same time balancing numerous narrative threads stemming all the way back from the first game (and even making reference to Remedy's other recent success, Control, at the same time). All of that and more was enough to give Alan Wake II the award for Best Narrative of 2023.
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I usually try to refrain on any sort of "undeserving" comment, since there's no accounting for taste, but...
Look guys, I like Zelda too, but I really think anyone picking it as their favorite story of this year should really consider...broadening some of their gaming horizons.
I am aware of those games. I played the Wii version of Xenoblade Chronicles years ago. Fire Emblem I've never been interested in.
My point was the majority of nintendo games have weaker storytelling compared to the rest of the industry. And that is completely fine (they should play to their strengths). But the fact that Tears of the kingdom is runner up in this list is absurd when all the other options make more sense.
The problem is that there seems to be a push for games to be more non-linear. And while I think it's fine for the open world I think it's completely unnecessary to incorporate non-linear design in a games story sections. like they did with botw and totk. That's how you end up with "memories" and events happening off-screen or in the past.
I think with a more linear design for the story. They could create more interesting scenarios and events, and also having interesting plot twist. But that's just me. I think if they want perfect an open-world Zelda they could look back at the older games and see what made them so engaging. I'm not just talking about story, but also things like rewards, dungeon design, and even combat mechanics.
Bad story doesn’t equate to open world. Just look at the Xenoblade games for one example. The design and execution of BotW/TotK’s story was just bad. Open world didn’t really have anything to do with that.
Dungeon design, maybe. Combat mechanics? BotW/TotK have fantastic combat mechanics, way better than any of the previous Zelda games.
I didn't say open world equals bad story. There are open world games with good stories. I meant that the way the story quests are designed result in a lack of focus for the narrative. Xenoblade for example the story progresses in more linear fashion compared to botw.
About the combat it is better for the most part. But I remember there being more moves you could do with a sword. In Twilight Princess I remember being able to move while attacking as well. I miss having the roll too.
I think it is simply a sign of just how much bigger the Nintendo fanbase on VGC is than the other 3 fanbases (PS, PC, Xbox), I'd estimate that Nintendo fans make up roughly half of all active VGC accounts at this point. The fanbase size disparity leads to Nintendo games making the shortlist in categories where the game in question isn't particularly strong in that area.
Zelda is a good game in many ways but storytelling simply isn't one of it's main strengths. Based on what I'm seeing on youtube it has just 3 hours of voice acted cutscenes (in a game with over 100 hours of main and side content combined), alot of the NPC's including on the main storyline aren't voiced. Baldur's Gate 3 by comparison (which deserved 1st or 2nd place imo) supposedly has 174 hours of cutscenes and voice acting, much of which you will never see on a single playthrough due to multiple dialogue options and player choices that affect the storyline. Alan Wake 2 meanwhile has a deep storyline written by the mad genius known as Sam Lake, filled with nuance and all kinds of hints and Easter eggs alluding to other games in the Remedy shared universe, and even those outside the Remedy shared universe (namely Quantum Break, which they can't directly reference due to Xbox owning the IP), a story that leaves you constantly questioning things and coming up with your own theories and changing those theories frequently.
Well said.
"Paul couldn't maintain his usual restraint. 'They voted Zelda for Runner-up,' he vehemently questioned, 'while my boy Kazuma's latest tale didn't even make the shortlist?!?!? Sometimes this community never ceases to amaze me!' He was furious. Tables and chairs were thrown in all directions, as though playing an old sea god crafting a raging tempest. Once the storm had cleared, he went back to his computer and decided to make a more diplomatic post."
There are a lot of Nintendo fans on this board. I'm surprised Alan Wake won to be honest, a game that didn't get a physical release is a game I will never play. And a game I'll never play is a game I cannot vote for.
Everyone knows Zelda isn't a story heavy game. Its a lot better than where it was before but still...
It beat BG3 in narrative? Also why is Zelda ToTK on the list for story and narrative? common now.
I'm surprised and also relieved that spiderman 2 didn't get nominated. Zelda is a surprising choice, i actually quite like the style of storytelling in the recent zelda games, probably would not rank it 2nd best for the year. People really need to broaden what good storytelling in a videogame is. I find that people often limit a good story to being cinematic in style and structure which doesn't necessarily play to the strengths of videogames as a medium for telling stories. There are so many different ways to create truly unique stories in the medium but so many seem to think there is a very specific way to tell a good story.
Microsoft wins something for once
AWII is actually under Epic Games Publishing.
