The Concept
The Interactive Drama genre spans across several different definitions, ranging from point-and-click to zombie survival. They are normally built on a highly cinematic presentation, with a heavy focus on scripting and writing. The stories are immense, epic, and built to keep the player on edge.
Over recent years, several games have been released to further stretch the growing style. Developer Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls were both released to success, to an extent, because of their written journeys and characters. Multiple endings and player driven decisions with a gripping storyline made them equally replay-able as any other game on the market.
This trend has moved further with the Telltale releases of The Walking Dead and most recently Game of Thrones, where point and click gameplay synchronizes with cinematic graphics. The concept of Interactive Dramas is extremely ambitious and aims to tell an emotional and dramatic story.
With the latest release of Life Is Strange, from Dontnod Entertainment, this genre looks to continue into this year with Until Dawn being released soon.