Games are an infinite medium for what they can achieve.
An example of this is storybooks.
Every choice can have dramatic effects, from the characters you recruit to the way the story unfolds.
It achieves this tremendously across the whole of its Norse-inspired trilogy.
Yet it’s also cosy and welcoming in a way only a human touch can be.
It feels like skimming through the pages of a child’s fairytale, mixed with a choose-your-own-adventure book.
Being home to so many of Disney’s properties, there’s plenty of storybook potential in there.
The greatest, and most obvious, would be the Hundred Acre Wood of Winnie the Pooh.
Of course, storybooks have always existed, and in times before high literacy, were essential to teaching.
A rather major one you may have heard of is the Bible.
Plenty of the tales were taken in Europe and presented in illustrated manuscripts like The Book Of Kells.
Pentimentis, well, exactly that.
It is an illustrated manuscript done in the style ofactual medieval ones, but in motion.
It’s an astoundingly gorgeous work with a firm understanding of how drawing and calligraphy intersect.
Plus, you get a murder mystery on top, which is just good fun.
Of course, even fairytales exist in such a world.
You might be a dragon flying overhead, but a woman with endlessly long hair?
That’s just silly.
The Blood and Wine expansion leans heavily into this, portraying Toussaint as a fairytale land.
Fablethen exists at the perfect intersection of the past and present.
It was a big project for Vanillaware, with massive amounts of voice-acting, and a beat-em-up combat system.
Two major aspects of the game made it feel so unique.
The second was how the game itself was displayed.
It’s a wonderfully unique presentation.
Can’t get more storybook-styled than that.
It is a beautiful game, a rare title from Ubisoft that isn’t focused on the hyper-realistic.
Every aspect of Child of Light is dedicated to its vision.
It uses a beautiful watercolour style to give the whole game a dream-like feel.
All characters speak in verse, and even the collectibles are written like sonnets.
Every piece is designed to feel like a book written in prose.
Everything is an experience, rather than existing just to push the game along.
In Pyre, you play as yourself,pronouns and all.
You take on the role of a Reader, one who watches the stars and chooses a path forward.
1The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parableis a game you’ve likely heard plenty of at this point.
In many ways, it’s not the first thing you’d think of when storybooks come to mind.
It’s almost more like a tabletop RPG where the GM has to adapt the story on the fly.
The Stanley Parable does it exceedingly well.
NEXT:The Best Story-Driven Games
