last words on Stray Gods

Ok. I finished Stray Gods.

I liked it, but I think it’s because it’s the first game that tries to bring Broadway from the manual to video games.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the game works, but not as a great showcase of interactive fiction.

The story is ok, it’s not Sandman, but it’s captivating.

The main problem is, like in many narrative games, there’s no agency, few reasons to replay, etc.

It’s almost a linear game, there are few things you can change, and definitely a waste of opportunities to do memorable things.

It saddens me because the game’s lore works, the characters are good, the art works and everything.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t go beyond.

The game lasts 7 hours, and it’s very ambitious. I don’t understand why they didn’t make it last 2 hours but with 3 very different stories.

Anyway, I enjoyed the first run a lot, but more because I’m a theater kid than anything else: if you like musicals, give it a try, otherwise… next!

I still think that we need more games that think of stories as spaces for exploration, that design using the rhizome as a central element and leave behind the linearity of traditional media.

PS: You may have noticed that I didn’t send emails over the weekend. I’m trying this new writing format from Monday to Friday and resting on weekends. We’ll see how it goes.