Exploring stories in games and the art of telling tales

SAM BARLOW

There is an uncelebrated literary form that lurks in the genesis of many of your favourite things. Unlike valued blueprint texts such as the screenplay or the libretto, this form is rarely glimpsed in public, instead discarded with the other debris left behind in the creation of a videogame. I’m speaking of the ‘Example Walkthrough’. Less fashionable now, this was once the bedrock of publisher pitches, selling the dream in the absence of anything playable. In celebration of this form, here is an example walkthrough for Charles Dickens’ PS4 classic Great Expectations.

Illustration kaeru.com.ar

The player has completed the tutorial and taken Pip across the marsh to the churchyard. In the corner of the screen a mission objective reads: “Visit Parents’ Grave.” They push up on the left stick to creep towards the low wall that surrounds the churchyard. As they near it, Pip’s hand reaches out, indicating the wall is navigable. The player taps X and Pip hops over the wall, the camera hugging close. He lands in a patch of nettles, their stalks deforming under his feet. The Vigor Meter flashes red, depleting from the nettle sting damage. The player hits the Down button to eat an apple and restore strength. Pip tosses the core to the ground and it rolls under physics into a puddle, spawning ripples. The camera turns in the direction of the church as Pip narrates, “I never knew my parents…”