It’s all about immersive storytelling, technological advancement, and ability to foster social connections now more than ever.
By Dave Jones: Columnist
When the video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 burst onto the scene, it turned heads: it was beautiful, painterly and with a haunting theme, like a cross between a Dali fever dream and the movie Inception.
The French steampunk characters live in a world at the whims of the Paintresss, a deity-like being who limits their lifespan and incites explorers to set out on expeditions to end the countdown of their own mortality. It drowned its mundane competitors in oil paint, with fresh game mechanics and concepts that coloured gamers’ lives with wonder and mystery because it was weird, wild and different.
For a long time now, AAA game development has been mired in the predictable and banal. Sure, there are exceptions, but there’s an epidemic of risk aversion taking hold of the industry; the same old franchises with copy/paste mechanics, open-world formulas with empty spaces and no innovations, live service for everything. It’s painting by numbers for video games, not masterpieces for the eyes and soul.
Photography: Antonio Friedemann
“You must see things as they are. Not how you want them to be.“
Artwork: ArtandMusic909
Anything bold or new
is wiped from the canvas, with big studios cancelling projects mid-way, or watering down their games to hit the same old marketing targets. Just this year, EA announced the cancellation of its Black Panther game that was rumored to use a system similar to “The Nemesis System,” which has been locked behind a Warner Bros. patent for years.
The colours that AAA studios are painting with are largely grey and lifeless, and only a few companies are trying something new to appease gamers who have seen it all before. It’s little surprise that when a project shows creative flair and individuality that people applaud its differences and wackiness. Game worlds are give us experiences we can’t get in the real world – new additions to our palette, if you will.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wasn’t the only game to colour outside the lines, either – the indie game scene has been doing it for a long time now, with classics such as Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley and Vampire Survivors becoming big hits for their audacity. But perhaps you’ve heard of a more recent trend-setter: Baldur’s Gate 3?
BG3 pulled from Dungeons & Dragons lore to defy safe conventions on a multitude of levels: it was a turn-based strategy RPG, unapologetically dense in stats and dialogue with hundreds of variables for player choices. It even has in-depth romance options, including that famous – or perhaps infamous? – “bear scene.” It did everything that many AAA game studios didn’t want to and was a massive success because of it; crazy, wonderful and rich in colours mainstream games lack.
FromSoftware, Inc. games such as Elden Ring paint with similar brushstrokes. They eschew conventional storytelling in favor of purposefully obtuse worlds you have to explore, piecing together stories and context from item descriptions, obscure character dialogue and environmental storytelling. And that’s not to mention the punishing difficulty levels that bar entry to casual gamers, but they’re beloved because they ignore trends set by their contemporaries.
The majority of modern games – and games companies – are caged by their desire to make profits when the real money makers are the ones who are thinking outside the box; they’re working with a different toolset altogether, and they’re no longer outliers. They’re quickly becoming canaries in a mine, singing songs in languages AAA games don’t understand.
Continued Below…
It’s true that tried-and-tested mechanics and conventions make money. They’re conventionally “safe bets,” but they’re rarely art like those witnessed in games that dare to dream. Gamers want new worlds, and yes, weird romances with vampires or bears, because they reward us with unique experiences for our time and money.
They create community, too - you only have to look at the huge numbers of people who scour the world of Elden Ring and discuss interpretations of single lines of text like translators of old discovering an ancient manuscript to see that. Gamers pour into forums to reveal a potential secret they’ve discovered, or a new way to defeat a BG3 boss using a plagued corpse carried in a demon’s pockets.
And that’s where AA companies shine. Games like BG3 and Obscur: Expedition 33 occupy a mid-space in terms of size; they’re not small, indie companies with a handful of staff but nor are they bloated industry giants, siphoning off market data to make another cookie-cutter shooter. They’re creatively nimble, take wider swings at riskier subjects, and don’t get weighed down by generations of company reputation and expectations.
While the alphas chase their tails and market trends, the underdogs are howling in the distance, and players are starting to follow the sound. That way leads to adventure and expectation, excitement and discovery… new places, people and worlds worth spending time with.
It’s not that AAA companies are villains for wanting to make money - the video games industry is just that, after all - but with their funding and experience they should be leading the charge to a brave new world. Perhaps it’s time for players to vote with their wallets: buy games that call to you, that fulfill and excite you, that you can talk about with your friends or even strangers on the internet to find new connections and share your experiences.
If the future of games looks more like a fever dream than a slideshow or pie chart, you’re doing something right. Embrace differences and dare to imagine worlds that captivate you with colors you’ve never seen.
Visit Dave's other articles here. Vote for him via the Stars below.
Supporting young & beginners
Want to give this writer some extra encouragement?
Support a writer breaking out into the literary industries by donating. 50% of the donation goes to the writer, whilst the other half is used to build and develop the Magazine, providing even more opportunities for people.
© 2025 Houghton & Mackay. All Rights Reserved. The content in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission to the rights owners. Header Photo: MW. Prose: David Jones. Find out more about Houghton & Mackay on the Main Business hub
