i've been thinking a lot lately about what i want from games. animal well perhaps prompted these thoughts most strongly, because it's a well made game in a genre i like which explores concepts i'm interested in and i enjoyed my time playing it, but it still left me somehow unsatisfied. why do other games, like void stranger, completely enthrall me and stick in my mind for months after? why did i stay up until 5am playing dragon slayer iii: romancia?
i'm starting to arrive at the idea that what i like isn't exploring mechanics or systems but exploring "worlds". mechanics and systems have to be consistent and follow "rules", but a "world" can be completely arbitrary, and reflects its creator.... and i think that's what i really value, connecting with the creator(s) of a game.
moreover, i'm starting to think that "worlds" are kind of the same thing as "narratives". it's just that "narrative" usually makes us think of text-heavy or cutscene-heavy games instead of stories driven by the construction of a space and its interaction with mechanics. i think i need a game to have a good "narrative" for me to truly love it, whether that's in a traditional sense or the sense of the world it creates.
for example, i recently loved the angeline era demo, which has fairly simple (though charming) writing, but the "narrative" created by the secret design and level design of a world filled with mystery and traps and hidden wonders around every corner was compelling to me.
now, junkoid.... why did junkoid captivate me enough to finish it in one sitting? why was i excited the whole time i was playing it? i think a big part of it is the story it told with its environments. there's a moment where you enter a strange area and your health bar and missile count is obscured. the mechanical consequences of this were exciting to me, but ultimately that moment was so memorable because it's an excellent narrative beat, rather than because it's "clever game design" or something.
i also loved how it plays with one's understanding of the original metroid; there's no explanation of what items do (except in an external manual which i didn't know existed when i played it) so you're relying on your knowledge that there will be a morph ball equivalent, that the dangerous hand enemies behave similarly to metroids, and so probably require the same weapons to fight.... but there are some twists to how the upgrades and progression works that are unique to the game. you're guessing in the dark and sometimes getting it right and sometimes being surprised. the combination of familiarity and mystery in this world drew me in....
returning to animal well, i think my dissatisfaction was with the "narrative". it creates this sinister world of mysterious statues, temples dedicated to certain animals, children's toys, strange murals, that never seems to amount to anything more than a vehicle for zelda-style item puzzles and later arg-style puzzles. it felt narratively "flat" in the sense that it maintains the same vaguely sinister feeling for its whole runtime; there is little "progression" in the way the game feels. this also suggests an explanation for why i liked the postgame (up to second credits) a bit better than the main game, when i've often seen others complain about it becoming tedious. the items in the postgame have more obscure uses and barely-visible secrets become accessible everywhere; i felt like the world was developing in a way that interested me. but it never really came together into something "narratively" satisfying; although maybe it's unfair for me to say that without doing the arg parts but that's not really my thing....
i think i'm realizing my preferences for "gameplay" are all over the place, because i ultimately want it to support a "narrative" i find compelling, whether that narrative is told traditionally or through the gameplay itself. at one extreme you have kinetic novels which barely have gameplay at all; i'd count higurashi as one of my all time favourite games, for example. in the middle, you have stuff like void stranger which is full of incredible design twists and secrets, but also has a great traditional cutscene-based story. at the other extreme, maybe i'd put the tower of druaga; it has a simplistic plot about a knight trying to save a maiden from a monster, but takes you on an incredible journey nonetheless.
