Examining Game Lore: There Should Be An App for That

Video games are more expansive than ever with developers crafting fully realized worlds with tons of detail and history to them. Beyond the main plot, there are stories that make the game feel more alive than ever and if players want to, they can really dig deep to find them. These ancillary game lore elements come in the form of notes, artwork, audio logs, and so much more. Developers put so much work embedding them into the worlds they create, and we eat that shit up. So why do they make it so hard to enjoy? The way we absorb video game lore does not work and, from my personal experience, there are a lot of problems that need to be addressed. The balance between enjoying the game and enjoying these elements doesn’t always work well with one another. I hate to say it, but the way we digest them makes matters worse and in a world of modern technology, we can do better. Let’s look at video game lore and how we can connect them to the technology that we already have available. Reading is Fundamental

Notes, book passages, emails, and other reading materials are all familiar collectibles in video games. I love them, and they add to the game lore. They not only feed our sleight OCD as gamers but collecting these notes and passages builds the world far more than the main plot ever could. In fact, I would go as far as to say that they make the game world more alive than ever. The two best examples I have of this are Fallout 3 and The Last of Us Part II.  Fallout 3 is truly one of…