I was thinking about why I don’t like 1000xResist as much as others.
Florence is one I think about that did work for me. Also small “poem-like” or “short-story” type games like Cecile Richards’s Endless Scroll. DPALM (Doing Poorly and Living with Myself) I also found to be super moving.
I’ve bounced off stuff like:
Longer games with compelling narratives that I like also are carried by their gameplay and systems for me, I think:
I did resonate with Wide Ocean, Big Jacket. Definite more movie than novel, I think I finished it in a sitting.
I think that’s really my criterion, did I finish it in a sitting if it is truly just a narrative driven experience.
This line of thought starts me wondering though, what if it isn’t just the duration, but it is some expectations around duration. Are games the only medium without a clearly communicated duration?