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Originally posted by Feenix
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Well, there's your problem. Video games of the '80s didn't really have any sort of narrative. Video games these days have become their own artistic and storytelling medium. Particularly so in the indie game sphere.
Consider Brukel. It's a pretty moving horror/thriller-esque game that follows the memories of the creator's 90+ year old grandmother as a teenager when the fighting of WWII came to her family's farmstead. The narration is the grandmother recounting the events with all the formality of sitting at the kitchen table and her telling you about it (i.e. it isn't a scripted narration). Which is kind of eerie in its own right when juxtaposed with the actual imagery throughout the game. Soldiers bearing down on the farmhouse and she chuckles, remembering the big old cast iron stove they used to have.
It sounds like you're assuming having a visual presentation is a crutch and not an artistic asset. I'm another voracious reader, but games like Journey, Rime, and Gris have hit me harder than any book I've read (to the point that, though I'd like to, I can't replay Rime because it's just so goshdarn depressing). All of which have super-simple mechanics, absolutely gorgeous art styles, incredible soundtracks, and convey their meaning/plot with no dialogue or words whatsoever.
Books, otoh, 100% tell you the story. You're literally being handed the world/story/narrative by the words on the page. You don't have to interpret it using your basic human emotional reactions to art and music as you progress through it.
Consider Brukel. It's a pretty moving horror/thriller-esque game that follows the memories of the creator's 90+ year old grandmother as a teenager when the fighting of WWII came to her family's farmstead. The narration is the grandmother recounting the events with all the formality of sitting at the kitchen table and her telling you about it (i.e. it isn't a scripted narration). Which is kind of eerie in its own right when juxtaposed with the actual imagery throughout the game. Soldiers bearing down on the farmhouse and she chuckles, remembering the big old cast iron stove they used to have.
It sounds like you're assuming having a visual presentation is a crutch and not an artistic asset. I'm another voracious reader, but games like Journey, Rime, and Gris have hit me harder than any book I've read (to the point that, though I'd like to, I can't replay Rime because it's just so goshdarn depressing). All of which have super-simple mechanics, absolutely gorgeous art styles, incredible soundtracks, and convey their meaning/plot with no dialogue or words whatsoever.
Books, otoh, 100% tell you the story. You're literally being handed the world/story/narrative by the words on the page. You don't have to interpret it using your basic human emotional reactions to art and music as you progress through it.
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