Story conveyed through game design - Your Examples?

[ManutheBloodedge]

Pretty much what it says in the title. What are your favorite examples of story in video games that was also or only conveyed to the player through game mechanics or design? Do you have an idea for a connection that no game has ever done before (or done right)?

For example, I always think back fondly to Atelier Iris 2, a JRPG. You fight the main antagonist for most of the story three times over the course of the game. The simple but brilliant design choice? They didn't change his stats for these fights. He has always the same in all three fights.
Of course, he wipes the floor with you and your party in the first fight. You and your companions can barely hold him off during the second ecounter until a NPC comes in to end it. And the third time is a mano-a-mano battle between him and you, and you win.
This does not only establish him right from the start as an effective threat as a villan, but it also signalizes your growth during the course of your journey in a real way that affects the story, instead of just an abstract character-level that only the player can see.

Which connection of story and game design do you remember?
Are there examples of stories you made up in your own head purely because of certain game mechanics? Do you remember story that only the environment told to you? Any idea how this could be done better in the future? Please feel free to share.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Maybe Limbo? Specifically the end when you break through the glass, there's a bright light, you've reached the end...and you wash up on the exact shores you started the game on. and the game resets.

You're truly in limbo. You can never die, and you can never escape. Truly genius.

 

[sanquin]

Of course Dark Souls needs to be mentioned. The way a lot of enemies move, how npc's talk to you (rather than what they say), the design of the areas, the impact your stats have on how strong you are, etc.

All of it conveys a kingdom on the verge of destruction. Completely uncaring towards you, your actions and your well-being. At best you're just another afflicted person just like many before you, at worst you're an intruder invading places you shouldn't be going to. You're not special, you're not strong. You're just another lost soul trying to survive. And, if you beat the game, you just happen to be the one to succeed.

 

[sXeth]

Doom (2016).

While there are the kind of hamfisted exposition tablets at points, the main characters character is largely told through actions, including the structure of the combat. You can not play a careful considered combatant within the games systems. Engaging in the horrific bloody kills is integral to staying alive, while furthering the characterization of the Doom Slayer as a monster in his own right. A secondary case is when the demons engage each other in combat (sometimes of their own volition, or when even mildly provoked by a stray attacl), establishing that they are not a hierarchy or misunderstood foe, but a untrustworthy and savage element that cant be trusted or bargained with (as the main villain and another NPC espouses)

 

[meiam]

Ico and a bit shadow of the colossus, the way Ico and Yorda bond is strongly reinforced by the mechanic of having to lead Yorda around and saving by sitting on the bench. Shadow of colossus mechanic also reinforce how the main character is just a normal human trying really hard to save his princess, and the way the colossus just chill out in the world and will even leave you alone if you run away also really help.

That atelier example is really neat, Lufia 2 does that a little bit too, you fight the final boss about 1/3 of the way in the game, I think you can even grind enough and beat him (although the story continue as if nothing happen).

 

[Zhukov]

In the setting of Dragon Age Origins lower caste dwarves are given a facial tattoo to mark them as permanent outcasts. If you make a lower caste dwarf character the character editor at the start forces you to have one of those tattoos. You can choose what tattoo you get, but you can't get rid of it.

I thought that was pretty neat.

In Dead Space 2 there's a key event where Issac is separated and out of communication from the character(s) who have been guiding him up until then. At that point the game disables the point-me-to-the-next-objective function. It provided a nice little moment when I reached for the familiar source of guidance and nothing happened and I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm on my own now. Shit."

 

[Zhukov]

All of it conveys a kingdom on the verge of destruction. Completely uncaring towards you, your actions and your well-being. At best you're just another afflicted person just like many before you, at worst you're an intruder invading places you shouldn't be going to. You're not special, you're not strong. You're just another lost soul trying to survive. And, if you beat the game, you just happen to be the one to succeed.

Funny, I seem to remember NPCs calling me "The Chosen One Undead" after a bit.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Quite appreciated that in Dishonoured and MGSV the non-lethal methods had real in-game reasons for being useful instead of a silly achievement or other gamified reward. It helps the world feel more fleshy.

A lot of Horizon Zero Dawn.

The Last Guardian utilises a few interesting techniques that is too much to briefly summarise.

In Mount and Blade Warband, choosing to be a woman buggers up a lot of (apparently only early game) choices for you.

Dirt Rally teaches me that rallying is hard, second chances don't come cheap and snow is a load of bullshit on top of bullshit.

Rain World efficiently portrays that life as a slugcat is nigh on impossible and you're better off cowering under a piece of decaying pipe, throwing stones or poles at anybody approaching your stash of food. Oh and that you may hallucinate holographic sentient pixie plants when isolated for too long.

By consistently trying to muder me (mostly) unsuccessfully, Wolfenstien teaches me that Nazis are assholes.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Like Meiam said, Shadow of the Colossus - a mostly silent game - is riddled with tiny nuances in the posture and animation of the characters that convey meaning. Wander clumsily swinging "his" sword, the stumbling and the pratfalling vs. his perfect synchronicity while horse riding, the colossi pawing curiously or annoyed at you...

 

[Comic Sans]

To me the best example I've come across is Spec Ops: The Line. As you play the game and the character descends more and more into madness several little things change. The executes on downed enemies go from a quick bullet to the head to savagely beating them to death with a little slow mo to see their reaction before it happens. The combat barks and orders you give change from professional military jargon to shouting and profanity and rage. The character gets more ragged as it goes, starting with him being a crisp military man to no uniform, covered in burns and scars. The game has less ammo lying around at the end, but you get more ammo from doing executes on downed enemies, so you are heavily encouraged to play more barbarically. The loading screen messages go from tutorials to stuff to messages talking about PTSD and finally messages about the character's mental state ("Don't worry, you're still the hero", etc). The entire game is built with these details to tell the story beyond the heavy handed cutscenes.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I think the one that sticks out in my mind is Final Fantasy VII.

Sephiroth was spoken of as a legend early in the game. You first see his work when you find all the blood splattered everywhere in the building--which was a real shock for my younger self because nothing like that had been in the game yet. So I knew this guy meant business.
Then we came across the Midgar Zolom, something that was easily stomping my party into paste, impaled on a tree like it was nothing.

But the part that really stuck with me, that really made me believe that this guy was so far above Cloud and his party, was when Sephiroth joined your party in the flashback. He was using fully leveled Materia that, at the time, seemed impossible to achieve. He was taking zero damage from enemy attacks. He was ending fights against dragons before Cloud could even get a chance to attack. His basic sword attack was hitting for thousands of points of damage while I was barely pushing a few hundred at the time.
They game really showed you just how powerful Sephiroth was at that point, and why you should be in awe of him.

 

[SweetShark]

Man, I know a recent specific Visual Novel which do neat things with its game files to mess you up, but saying the title it is a giant spoiler. I hope to find the game I am talking about.

Other than that, Paper Please! is a good example which anything you doing in the game, have major impact to the people who let pass or arrest. Such a great game.

 

[Trunkage]

Brothers: Tale of Two Sons - the ending. Cant say more than that due to spoilers

 

[sanquin]

I disagree. Dark Souls conveys most of its story through dialogue and text, which isn't mechanical. It's far from pure. It's heavy with exposition. If you don't pay close attention and don't consume the abundant information, you will be lost as to what's going on and what your role in all this is. Its abundance also makes it harder to filter through to what actually matters.

Maybe it's because I barely paid attention to the texts and dialogue, but I got plenty of story from just the world and gameplay mechanics.

 

[Souplex]

Dark Souls.
Undead can die any number of times, (No long-term consequences to death in game) but they lose their minds when they give up the will to go on. (You go hollow when you give up)

 

[stroopwafel]

Bloodborne ofcourse. The environmental storytelling is so strong in this game. It's a work of art.

 

[ChupathingyX]

NieR and NieR Automata are filled with heaps of examples, though most of them are spoilers.

One neat non-spoiler example is at the beginning of Automata during the initial options menu, where you're literally changing 2B's own sight and hearing levels.

 

[CaitSeith]

Leaving aside that story is part of the game design (but I get what you are referring to), I remember some examples:

Limbo and Inside tell everything without dialogue or text, although the story can be pretty ambiguous and very open to interpretation (specially the later game).

For something more subtle you have Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. The appearance of NPCs, rooms, enemies and even dialogs and the cutscenes themselves get affected by what you look at, where you go and what you interact with when exploring the town (ex. if you give much attention to erotic posters and female NPCs' cleavage, the NPCs will be more slutty and the enemies more will look more feminine).

A similar example to the OP's is Chrono Trigger; where you have an unexpected fight against the final boss, and wipes the floor with you. The fun thing is that in NG+, you are strong enough to defeat the boss at that point, and you can get a secret ending right there. But really, the "getting your ass wiped by strong enemy as part of the story" cliché is as old as Final Fantasy II (the Famicom version).

 

[captainsavvy]

As others have mentioned, my pick is Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The exact explanation is a massive spoiler though and is definitely something that should be experienced first hand otherwise it really loses it's impact.
All I will say is that the game has more emotion packed into it's control scheme than some games manage in the entirety of their game design.

Also Yoko Taro games (Nier/Nier: Automata) do many wonderful things with the way they tell stories, especially with multiple play-throughs and different perspectives.