The Nature of Interactive Storytelling – Why Telltale Succeeded Where Quantic Dream Failed Trenton

In recent years, the once dead genre of interactive adventure games has made its return, maybe not to mainstream success, but to popularity nonetheless. After its long decline in the late 90s and early 2000s, the genre had to evolve: incorporating the ideas and casual-oriented mechanics of their competitors. Be it Machinarium, the later Monkey Island titles, or Tim Schafer’s kickstarter-funded “Broken Age” – people are really responding to these titles in light of the changes they’ve made. But no genre is without its faults – there’s a reason why people stopped buying, and there’s an argument to be made that those same faults are hurting the genre today.

The two juggernauts of modern adventure games are Quantic Dream and Telltale Games – two developers whose games have gone a long way towards modernizing the genre. Of their most recent titles, however, only the Walking Dead found acclaim, while Beyond: Two Souls didn’t – failing to meet fan expectations. The question is… why? What flaws are inherent in each of the titles, and how can these realities of the genre be compared to gaming at large?

The Balance Between Narrative and Gameplay

First and foremost, it’s important to define what exactly interactive storytelling is, and by extension gaming itself: it’s an interactive visual experience in which the player makes a series of choices, be they story or gameplay related.

Adventure games take the stance that story related choices take precedence over ones of pure gameplay (dispatching enemies, solving puzzles, completing objectives), often at the expense of gameplay itself. This is a common viewpoint in story-oriented game design, and is often said for gaming at large. Only it’s contradicted by the fact that most successful games are entirely without story-based choices, even those lauded for their narratives. This isn’t an issue because the developer has a story to tell, and doesn’t give the player any indication that their actions influence the narrative.

An excellent example of this is The Last of Us – a game praised for its writing and narrative, but entirely linear – without choice. To balance that lack of freedom, and to make the player feel less like they’re watching a TV show or movie, the game keeps cut-scenes to a minimum, while not hindering the story because of it. The players investment is created not entirely through the story, but by creating a sense of presence – by making the player feel like they’re in the world. This is one of the main faults in interactive storytelling – focusing too much on the narrative, and neglecting that the player requires a steady flow of gameplay to keep their interest. If they’re inactive for long periods of time, bar dialogue choices and cut-scenes, the player begins to distance themselves from the experience, thinking less about the world they’re in, and more about the fact that they’re playing a game. A balance has to be struck in order to motivate the players progression.

The Reality of Choice in Choice-Based Games

When it comes to Beyond: Two Souls and The Walking Dead, it’s fair to say their point-and-click, cut-scene-heavy nature completely disregards the emphasis on gameplay. Instead, players are kept invested through the promise of choice in the story, and the draw of that story as a whole.

Both of these points aren’t quite achieved in Beyond: Two Souls, as the nature of the story, and how Quantic Dream chooses to tell it, serve to alienate the player – told through a series of isolated stories throughout the protagonist’s life, jumping back and forth between them. One minute you’re a toddler, the next you’re a twenty year old CIA agent, and the next you’re an angsty teen. The strange narrative progression cements these later story pieces, erasing some of the mystery and magic of adventure games. Rather than feel the natural evolution of the story – actions having real effects – the experience becomes almost passive. It’s because of this that when the real, interesting choices pop up, the player has little indication that they influenced anything at all.

Now, don’t make the mistake of thinking I feel the Walking Dead has any real choices either. It doesn’t. The future is just as fated, if not more so than it is in Beyond. What the Walking Dead does do right, is make the player think their choices have consequences. The illusion of choice. Your actions determine whether you run to the hills right now… or get forced to leave ten minutes later. Your actions determine whether another character dies at the end of the episode… or if they die at the beginning of the next. Either way, everyone has practically the same experience – the fundamental difference being that the player feels they steered the story one way or another. This is achieved first and foremost through the lie reinforced at beginning of each episode – that the game is malleable and reacts to your choices. This idea is helped by the reoccurring “Clementine will remember that” message (and now meme) which pops up after every significant dialogue decision. At the end of each episode, we’re greeted with a chart which shows what decisions each percentage of the community made.

Beyond: Two Soul’s approach is more elegant, more subtle. And that’s ultimately its failing. The game, while largely mostly linear, doesn’t bother letting the player know when a choice has been made, and if there will be repercussions later on. I suppose it could be said this makes things more realistic, complementing the more realistic visuals, and slightly better acting. But to do so is to disregard both the games narrative (spirits and monsters from another dimension aren’t exactly true-to-life), and the draw behind choose-your-own adventure games.

An excellent example of this is when Jodie breaks out during her teen-punk phase to go to a bar with her friends. Now, most people will probably get caught trying – it doesn’t let you know there’s a way to progress, so when the chapter ends you just feel confused and bitter. If you do somehow make it there, and stay even after finding her friends failed to show up, Jodie is sexually assaulted by the bar’s patrons. This permanently cuts off the possibility of romance with Ryan later on in the game. THAT is a serious, impactful choice – among the few the game has – and players aren’t given any indication that their way wasn’t the only one. This could be alleviated by going the route Telltale did – by making players more aware of the nature of the experience. As a result of the Walking Dead’s distinct, and obviously less sophisticated visuals, it’s easier to include these somewhat immersion breaking messages. There’s an argument to be made that Beyond would have more difficulty including them, but given the disjointed nature of the story, it would have much of an effect.

In Conclusion

Overall, Quantic Dream fails where they succeeded before. In achieving higher production values, and smacking a sixty dollar price tag on the game, players expect more out of the overall experience than they would the Walking Dead, despite the title’s poor graphics and glitches. At a much lower cost, released in five dollar increments, players expect much less out of the experience, and more easily forgive the game’s faults and illusions of choice. Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that, between two narrative-driven games, the Walking Dead has a greater incentive for player investment, given its better writing and illusion of choice.