They look like our world but are built for us in a way that leads, invites and nudges us through unexpected narratives. However they do it, game worlds tell stories unlike other media. Balan Wonderworld lets you jump and trick your way into bits of the level that feel like you've tricked the game. Uncharted games let you squeeze between rocks that would usually mark a barrier. Portal, for example, lets you go behind the scenes. Some games let you (seem to) push through to parts of the world usually off limits. Both the journey to get there and the sense of presence when you arrive tells a narrative that sticks in your brain as much as any story. Then there are games like Abzu, Journey and Vane that take you to places you can't normally go. Or there are games that seem bereft of human presence, like Lushfoil Photography Sim, and tell a story about absence as much as presence. Games like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture or Firewatch create a world of relationships connected to a particular place and time that strongly evoke both memory and story. Others, like Paradise Marsh and Proteus, invite us into a space that is both grounded and mystical with insects taking to the stars or our presence causing the cosmos to shift. Some games, like Alba, A Wildlife Adventure, weave narrative through the state of the island and its animal inhabitants. But the worlds in which we play these games are often as dense and rich with story as any other aspect of the experience. Often we think about video game narrative as what characters and narrators tell us.
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