Evidence that single-player campaigns- the home of narrative in games – could
be in danger is out there. Activision set
the ball rolling by axing Call Of Duty: Black
Ops IIII’s single-player campaign in favour of a
multiplayer-only offering. BioWare – a studio
lauded for its narrative prowess – seemingly
forgot everything that made it such a beloved
developer when creating Anthem, a money-
spinning game-as-a-service with a nice-
looking world and an awfully thin storyline. A
whole generation of late-teen gamers weaned
on Minecraft, who have since graduated to
the likes of Fortnite and Overwatch, might not
even be aware that it’s possible for games to
have storylines.
Story-heavy campaigns are still out there.
There have been some excellent recent
examples of games with plenty of narrative
depth, like Metro: Exodus and Red Dead
Redemption II, plus we have narrative treats
from the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, Control,
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
and Borderlands 3, along with a plethora of
story-focused indie games that we can look
forward to. However, this generation has
shown big publishers are more determined to
concentrate on games-as-a-service models
that coerce audiences into co-operative or
competitive multiplayer, making things look
bleak for storytelling in games.
ABOVE Overwatch
is great and
all, but where’s
the story?
RIGHT Fortnite’s
story-less
antics have a
lot to
answer for.
BELOW At least
we had The
Witcher 3 this
generation.064 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE
OXM INVESTIGATES