GOTY 17: Narrative

Thimbleweed Park - Point and click aficionados will no doubt have already clocked Thimbleweed Park well in advance, but this stylishly retro-looking adventure game is so good it transcends the genre. It's quirky stuff, make no mistake, and if thinking about Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max makes you feel all warm and nostalgic, we heartily recommend you take a trip to Thimbleweed Park. It breaks the fourth wall regularly, and combines sarcastic biting humour with an intriguing murder mystery to keep you hooked on its story.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus took what was great about the The New Order and turned it up to 11, with larger-than-life characters on both sides of the war, a fantastic setting, and a batshit crazy story. Where Machine Games' shooter sequel really succeeds though is the way it blends all these elements and underpins it with a powerful political message that resonates beyond the confines of the medium. It's at the same time an outlandish and hilarious story of a world that could never exist, while also being a startlingly relevant tale to our own world. Let's not forget that we also see a more vulnerable B.J. Blazkowicz here too, one who is very different than in The New Order.

Horizon: Zero Dawn - One area a lot of open-world games stumble in is narrative, but that wasn't an issue in Horizon: Zero Dawn, which delivered an outstanding story alongside the compelling game world, one that was at the same time prehistoric and futuristic. Set in future overrun by mechanical animals, players take control of the brilliantly written Aloy and delve deep into the secrets that changed the world and left humanity on the brink. Aloy herself was also very human in her depiction, despite wrestling with robots regularly, and her exploration of her own identity was hugely compelling.

What Remains of Edith Finch - What Remains of Edith Finch was a surprising and touching narrative adventure that explored the tragedies that beset the Finch family over a number of years, culminating in the events that the player experiences that we'll not spoil here. This elegantly constructed game is quick to play, but thanks to some poignant writing it'll live long in the memory, with Giant Sparrow crafting one of the most moving stories we've ever had the pleasure of playing. Like with Horizon: Zero Dawn, it was an incredibly relatable tale as well, and had subtlety to it that you don't often find in video games.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - Danganronpa has always been a dark series about the battle between Hope and Despair, but with Danganronpa V3 this was turned up even further. In one of the bleakest narratives the franchise had seen, this entry pushed the boundaries of the series with a starkly different story than we'd seen before, including some particularly shocking surprises. As we've come to expect, the characters were also unique and compelling too, which made it all the harder to say goodbye when the infamous Killing Game started.