No doubt, Game of the Year God of War is an accomplishment of story-telling in digital media. Something I’ve noticed in video games is that character moods and dialogue often do not reflect trauma properly over the course of an arc. Typically, a witty character may very shortly halt somber grieving to deliver a one-liner or excited action dialogue as they have done all game. Their gameplay dialogue, as opposed to cutscene dialogue, may be cheery and optimistic despite the gravitas of the preceding situations. In respect to story-telling within video games, Santa Monica Studio’s hit does dialogue notably well. God of War successfully continues the solemnity after the woman in refrigerator opening. Atreus’s commentary and action dialogue reflect his emotional state. This capture is further evidenced by Atreus’s arrogance in the later stages of the game.
Atreus’s hubris persists for several hours of gameplay after discovering that he is a god. This is a very important convention in the art of story-telling in video games. Typically, characters maintain their macro’d battle dialogue which often does not reflect circumstances or trauma experienced only one or two cutscenes ago. Atreus’s speech shifts to match his newfound arrogance beyond the cutscene. The tone of his actions, like “ljosta” or other runes, changes from Atreus’s succinct excitement to lull or reluctant incantations. Alternatively, his arrogance reflects in his actions through taunts or laughs or an outright refusal to follow orders. His dialogue changes to match the trauma of experience. This change might make a player dislike Atreus in these moments. That is evidence of good story-telling: our opinion of Atreus shifts to match his personality beyond the cutscene. He does not have one personality in battle and another in cinematic cutscenes. The game is a linear continuation of the shifting emotional state of our two protagonists and therefore an example of excellent control of the story.
I profess, then, to video game writers: match brief dialogue to the trauma. Change up the action dialogue to match the experiences of the characters. It will only serve to strengthen the narrative.
Image Credit: Playstation and Sony
