Release Date: 12/04/2016
Played On: PS4
Available On: PS4 / Win
Time Played: 15h 4m
Progress: Completed / 88% Trophies
Developer: Spearhead Games
Publisher: Spearhead Games
Lately it might seem as though the only innovations made in narrative game design, have been from the so-called 'walking simulator' end of town. A lot of games enhance their narrative side by removing gameplay elements, which sometimes works, but often ends in boredom. However, keeping in gameplay doesn't automatically fix the problem.
Such is the case with Stories: The Path Of Destinies, which I very much enjoyed despite some key weaknesses and questionable choices. The game is focused on exploration and narrative branches, while attempting to maintain some moment-to-moment gameplay mechanics. I was a little reminded of the excellent Hand Of Fate, which also tries to combine story with gameplay, with varying results.
In fact, much like Hand Of Fate, Stories includes a rudimentary combat system that only stays relevant for the first part of the game. Once you master the easily learned inputs the game falls to its knees and waves you on by.
Most of us have played it before and would recognise combat in Stories, as an Arkham-light system of counters and chain combos. Stories also includes four swords with different elemental powers, but the real meat is found in counter-attacking enemies until they fall over. It's a simplistic system that has probably been popular for far too long these days, but I don't actually mind it.
After all, this game isn't the game to play if you're after some challenging and complex combat systems to sink your teeth into. The main thrust of Stories is the branching narrative that encourages you to undertake multiple playthroughs. Combat is just something that you do along the way as a means to an end, but it still gets very grindy, very quickly.
The problem is that as you're replaying your way through the chose-your-own-adventure story, you're levelling up your skills and weapons. It's fun to gain power and moves to better take down packs of enemies, but after three or four runs, you're maxed out on all fronts.
That might sound reasonable to some, but when you consider that it takes about 25 runs of Stories to see every variation in the plot, you might think again. Not to mention that each run takes about 20 minutes to complete once you get into the swing of things. Thus, if you get sucked into the story like I did, you might have to spend a lot of time retracing the same ground and fighting through the same enemies over and over.
As I said, this is not the game to play if you're looking for combat mechanics that will gird up your loins. However, there's a clue in the game's name, that might indicate where the focus precisely lies. If that doesn't tip you off, then you should only need a couple of runs through Stories, to realise that it's all about the plot.
You play as Reynardo the fox, who is caught in the middle of a war between resistance fighters and an oppressive emperor. The story starts with an offering of choice, allowing you to decide on which path you'll take. Depending on what you choose, you will travel through various fantastical locations on the way to facing the emperor himself.
Except, there are multiple choices along the way that will skew and distort every journey you embark on. There's no denying a strong link to choose-your-own-adventure books here, as Stories regularly throws more choices in front of you to divert your path. Thankfully, there are enough choices in the game to make each one interesting enough to bother with.
Although, after completing a number of runs, you could be forgiven for thinking that there wasn't a lot else to discover. After all, there are roughly three main plot directions to choose from, with each additional choice relating to the paths you didn't choose in the beginning.
The first choice you get is between attempting to save your friend, hunting down a great weapon of power, and pursuing a magical stone that could win the war on its own. If you choose to look for the stone, the next choice will be to continue on the stone's path, or switch to seeking the weapon, or rescuing your friend. What makes this interesting is that entering and exiting any of these three paths at different points in the story yields different results.
In this way, each run through Stories becomes something of a puzzle to solve, as there are hints throughout every path that suggest alternate routes to be taken. Additionally, there are key parts in the story where Reynardo will learn a "truth" from the narrative he's just experienced. These truths persist through additional playthroughs, opening up new choices along the way.
Once you've learned a certain number of truths that relate to key elements in the story, you can use that information to play through the "true" story of the game. Turns out that even with so much choice along the way, there's a canon series of events that are intended to be experienced. The fun part is that you have to play through the game multiple times and unlock new paths and choices, just to have the opportunity to reveal another truth.
All of this amounts to a really nice take on how to conduct a branching narrative in a game. The choices soon become familiar, and with subsequent playthroughs, you feel more informed as a player. This is key, as it means that you end up making choices that you want to see play out, rather than simply choosing something you haven't seen before. It's an elegant way to make replaying the same game multiple times enjoyable.
I suppose this is where I start to get a bit confused about Stories, as I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative side of the game, while the combat resulted in a bit of a grind. In fact, I found myself running through the game as quickly as I could, just to unlock the remaining stories I had yet to see. Although that was largely due to the combat between story beats, which became nothing more than a bump in the road early in the game.
The reason it confused me a little was that I don't think the game would be as good if the combat was taken out. If this was just a walking simulator narrative without anything else going on, it would be especially boring. So I have to applaud the developers for integrating some kind of combat between plot points, because it kept me playing. It didn't matter that the challenge disappeared quickly, at the end of the day I think it was a case of having something to do along the way.
After all the story is all about a war going on and Reynardo being the hero that will save their world. It would be a little weird to play through such a story without any conflict along the way, even if it's easily overcome. Some of the more interesting plot points might not have been as amusing or as interesting if gameplay mechanics weren't somehow tied to them.
Above all else though, I loved my time with Stories because it presented another way to tell a story in a game. Not only that, it manages to succeed at presenting choice in an interesting way that actually compelled me through multiple replays (I'm not usually someone who replays anything). Hence, I have to applaud the game for achieving exactly what I think it sets out to achieve.
This is a game focused on its story and the differences you can experience by making alternate choices and by taking different paths. It's a fine example of how interacting with a game world can add so much to a narrative experience. Even though the combat is easy and fast to get repetitive, having a bit of gameplay really helps seat the player in the world.
What's more, there are some genuinely funny, sad, and interesting twists and turns to uncover in the story. I would encourage anyone playing Stories to play through as many differing paths as possible. Like other games that ask you to replay over and over, progress you make in each journey will inform and carry over to the next. The nice part is that this keeps everything moving forward, even when replaying a part you've already seen.
Hopefully you can see from the screenshots on this page that Stories is a good looking game. The animated characters and movement are bright and colourful, but appropriate to the themes and setting of the story.
The soundtrack is suitable, and includes a charming narrator who adds a lot to the depth of the game's world. The way he says certain phrases and inflects on particular lines goes a long way to building a believable and enticing world. In fact, if the narrator didn't deliver their lines as well, the entire game would have been worse for wear.
This ends up being the theme of Stories for me, as any single element fails to be particularly impressive on its own. Thankfully then, this is a game that ends up being more than the sum of its parts.
Stories: The Path Of Destinies is a compelling narrative structure that eagerly kept me playing through multiple runs. While there are flaws in some of the game's systems, the overall experience is entertaining and relatively unique.
There are many genuine moments of joy to be had playing this game, and many bits and pieces that feel fresh and inspiring. After all, I'm pretty keen on any game that successfully pushing story-telling in games to another level.