Following from last week's episode, Tim and Joel begin by looking at Kentucky Route Zero, which does interesting things with narrative interactivity - positioning the player as stage director rather than performer. We talk about the ways games suggest ways of playing through creative constraint, with reference to the stress system in Crusader Kings 3. Finally we talk about narrative reconstruction, wherein the focus of the player's experience is to put the game's story together, in Outer Wilds and The Flower Collectors.

 

Games mentioned:

 

• Kentucky Route Zero
• Disco Elysium
• Crusader Kings 3
• Civilization
• Outer Wilds
• The Flower Collectors