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8 Minimalist Games That Tell Impactful Stories With Little Effort

Who says you need words for a good story?

There are a lot of great stories out in the world. And by putting you in the driver seat, video games have the unique ability to make even the strangest narratives personal and heartfelt. Some games tell side stories just with their environments, like in BioShock, while others tell the entire narrative through bits and pieces left for the player to find, like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.

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But then there are games where even that is too much. Often without dialogue or text, relying solely on the power of visual storytelling, some minimalist games turn it into a true art form. It’s true, minimalistic storytelling doesn’t work in every case. But when it does, these games deliver some of the most emotional, memorable narratives in the medium.

Spoiler Warning: The descriptions of each game do include some minor ‘plot’ spoilers.


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Author
Sean Timm
Sean is a simple man who enjoys a good game, a good story, and the chance to talk about both. That said, he also honestly believes video games have the potential to be the greatest pinnacle of storytelling ever, so there's that...