Chad Verrall

Examples of games that are highly systemic and look highly systemic that surprised you with a really deep narrative? Go.

To give you an example: Thomas Was Alone. Very systemic, not obviously a narrative game, but framed and delivered really well as one.

Sorry I can’t reply to everyone who has now launched into the philosophy of what a systemic game is vs a narrative game but I’m not looking for games that are obviously about delivering their story from a systemic point of view.

Thomas Was Alone could theoretically work entirely without its story delivery because it’s a systemic game. You can play the puzzles and the story isn’t core to playing the game. It is however what gives the game the magic that makes it so compelling.

Firewatch is not a systemic game because it lives through its narrative and its mechanics are geared towards delivering that narrative. Now, of course there are hybrid cases.