The most famous modern example of The Hero’s Journey is Star Wars. A cinematic feat for its time and now considered a masterpiece. But when it comes to using the narrative structure in games, it’s often antithetical to what developers may be wanting to achieve. Video games are, of course, a completely different medium than film. Although there are games that want to tell movie-like epic adventures, and developers like Naughty Dog have proven success in doing that, games focused on play-based story-telling doesn’t fall under any typical narrative structures. The ‘walking simulator’ genre is often the biggest example of the difference between film and games as the narrative is often told through the players own-mind as they piece together elements while exploring an area.

As Alexander explains, the narrative structure that The Hero’s Journey offers can force you into certain aspects that can be detrimental.

“It means that everything needs to be defined by conflict which limits the ideas that can be included in the story as so much of play is not about conflict. Trying to see all things game design through that lens damages creativity and ultimately damages games culture. It also specifically excludes any aesthetic goals that developers might have in designing their experience. I think this is why a lot of people struggle to understand the success of walking simulators. [...] The Hero's Journey can't explain how the aesthetic interventions of Japanese storytelling work, nor the living history of Australian Indigenous People's stories, but with a crowded market of games that increasingly tell the same story, these are just a couple of the inspirations we should be looking for and narrative designers need a framework to understand them.”

When it comes to Broken Roads, Alexander explains that The Hero’s Journey simply wouldn’t work with the moral compass.