The most recent episode of Telltale’s Game of Thrones got me thinking about this small trend of episodic games. By no means is this a massive surge of games becoming episodic, but it’s certainly something that has caught on ever since the accessibility of the PSN and the Xbox Live Marketplace has increased. Telltale’s Walking Dead series certainly helped that exposure, for the most part, it’s Telltale’s who has pioneered this style of gaming and certainly brought it into the mainstream. Of course, there are other exceptions like Resident Evil and Life is Strange, but there is certainly something interesting and extraordinary about the format in general.
Nowadays you can’t go a month without seeing a new episode of a Telltale game and for good reason, people love them. There is something special about devoting two hours of your night to a tight and entertaining narrative that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s also more accessible than most games. The Witcher requires a lot of time and effort be put into building a character, but during Game of Thrones I mostly answer questions and walk around, with the occasional quick time event. Without context, that description sounds awful, but it’s surprisingly engaging and a suspense filled two hours.
One thing that story based adventures like Life is Strange or Game of Thrones do better than most games is tell an engaging story without long stretches of killing bad guys. Without spoiling anything, the most recent episode of Life is Strange has a heartbreaking moment towards the end. And every episode of Game of Thrones contains a story altering choice(s) that will affect your play for the rest of the series. While I’m not saying one is better than the other, it is nice to see games evolve to tell more of a contained story than just running down a series of hallways to reach the final cutscene.
Episodic stories have caught on for a few reasons; stable internet gets more and more widely used every day, which makes it easier to download. Bite-sized chunks of games are the best way to digest a fluid and functional story. Most game’s story drags towards the middle because the lack of high stakes. Two hour-long episodes give you enough time to become invested but also keep you moving through the world quickly. Not everyone has time to spend 40 hours running through Thedas, sometimes they just want to see a small snippet of courtly intrigue in Westeros.
Choice is also a huge reason for this current trend in games, like Telltale’s many franchises. I love Dragon Age and Mass Effect, in part because of the dialogue choices I have with the people around me. In Telltale’s case, you have all those options but under the gun, your choice placed under a time limit. And the choices you make feel more immediate and reflective the longer the story goes. There is nothing wrong with a straightforward and linear story, but for the sake of variety it’s nice to have the option to shape the world.
This genre of gaming is growing with every new release, and at the moment Telltale has a monopoly. But as much as I love The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Game of Thrones, I would certainly like to see more from other studios and other ideas. Life is Strange, is not a perfect game, but it’s certainly interesting and engaging. It’s a building block for something more. With the rise of indie games and the slow decline of the triple ‘A’ game, big publishers should take advantage of the moment and explore other options the same way Square Enix did with Dontnod. Episodic games sure have enough room to fit into the bunch.
