Some games attempted to offload story into instructional material or novellas in an effort to provide players with some degree of context for the actions they would be expected to undertake. Story, such as it was, had to be interpreted by the player with little or no formal structuring (Juul, 2001 Rubens, 2013 Extra Credits, 2012). Many of the first commercially successful titles came with no obvious narrative at all within the gameplay, focusing entirely on games as ludic artefacts. The reason for this may perhaps be found, in part, in the history of the medium itself. While there do exist several games with a very strong narrative focus and tremendous depth in their storytelling, these remain a comparative rarity. Video games as an entertainment product have rarely been lauded for their ability to effectively tell stories (Heron & Belford, 2014a Jenkins, 2004 O’Brien, 2014 Houghton, 2013), to the point that their inability in this dimension has been a subject of mockery (for example: Hornshaw, 2012). This paper argues for an encompassing definition of game that is appreciative of the different intentions that may be perceived in structure and freeform narratives-that the substance of such titles is found in the largely unparalleled opportunities they present for exploring issues of choice, agency, and empathy within video games. It is the very lack of narrative structure in any linear or branching format that argues for these to be considered as a game genre of their own-one we have termed the "empathic puzzler." They are related to more engineered narrative structures, but their design offers unique opportunities for emotional reflection. Dear Esther and Gone Home are freeform narratives that are best understood as tools for generating, interrogating and integrating empathy through the exploration of characterisation through situated spatiality within an emotionally resonant environment. The Walking Dead and The Stanley Parable are branching narratives that are spiritual successors to the Choose Your Own Adventurer style game-books. In this paper, the authors argue that these games are properly differentiated into two key categories. They are too unabashedly contrarian with reference to the generally accepted definitions that the field uses-indeed, questions have been raised as to whether or not they can even truly be considered games at all. Narrative games such as The Walking Dead, Gone Home, Dear Esther, and The Stanley Parable are difficult to situate into the general framework of game genres that are popularly, albeit informally, understood by mainstream audiences. ALL OF YOUR CO-WORKERS ARE GONE: STORY, SUBSTANCE, AND THE EMPATHIC PUZZLERīy Michael James Heron & Pauline Helen Belford
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