BEST STORYTELLING
JAMES O’CONNOR
WHAT REMAINS OF EDITH FINCH
Edith Finch presents storytelling concepts – things I’ve never seen done before – and pulls them off so well that my jaw literally dropped a few times. DANIEL WILKS
NIER AUTOMATA
It’s a ballsy move to hide a great deal of a game in what are essentially New Game + replays, but that’s exactly what’s so great about the storytelling in Nier Automata MEGHANN O’NEILL
MOONHUNTERS
Roguelikes are maddeningly fun to play, but they don’t always tell memorable stories. Why would you care about your characters if they’re all going to die? Moonhunters answers this question by turning each short playthrough into a legend and each iteration of you into a hero. Secrets are unlocked as you piece together clues from your own prior histories and this is a convincing way to structure a narrative in this context. With a glut of statistics to manage, it’s also an excellent cooperative experience. KOSTA ANDREADIS
WHAT REMAINS OF EDITH FINCH
A near perfect blend of mechanics and narrative that tells an engrossing, emotional story in a truly interactive way. JAMES COTTEE
NIER AUTOMATA
Yoko Taro gets it. His persona, his entire shtick is meta and performative. He appears in public only while wearing a nightmare spherical skeleton mask, he skips out on E3 to ‘eat tacos’, and he puts fishing mini-games in his productions whether you like it or not. There’s a transcendent quality to his works; games can indeed be art, and good art is confrontational. DAVID WILDGOOSE
NIGHT IN THE WOODS
It’s partly the “what am I gonna do today?” (lack of) structure that best conveys the duelling restlessness/listlessness of Possum Springs’ core 20-something quartet. But mostly it’s the way the writing absolutely nails the easy shorthand and comfortable long pauses between close friends with an intimate, shared history.