A "New" Form Of (Fighting) Game Storytelling

Content originally posted to Instagram on February 3, 2021.

Didn’t think I’d be talking about 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim again…but I couldn’t help but think about that game when I saw Guilty Gear Strive’s newest trailer last week! It broke down all the game’s different modes, and it was the “GG World Mode" (which explains everything from character relationships to the entire Guilty Gear series timeline) that reminded me of 13 Sentinels. Not the sexiest thing to talk about, but anyways…

See 4:21 for this specific part in the trailer:

It’s not a brand new idea for a game to have some sort of in-game wiki. But my time playing 13 Sentinels has shown me that an in-game wiki is a nice diversion when you’re simply curious about a game’s deeper lore, and it can add to a player’s sensation of “exploration”. In contrast, if 13 Sentinels purposely withheld crucial parts of the story to know during the core gameplay, and made it necessary for players to go digging for that info in the in-game wiki….I wonder if me and others still would’ve reacted so positively to the game.

Back to Guilty Gear Strive: I realize that Guilty Gear, compared to a lot of other fighting games, places a much heavier emphasis on its lore. And for Strive, developer Arc System Works is providing that extra in-game wiki to go along with the game’s “Story Mode”. It’s a cool addition, but it does make me wonder if newcomers will be able to go into “Story Mode” without any prior knowledge of the series, or if they’ll be expected to do a bit of homework first…hopefully it’s the former!

And look, I get it: stories in fighting games, and all the characters + world-building that make them what they are, can be a mixed bag. Some fighting game fans could care less, other fans find them to be the main reason they’re buying the games. But as someone who is planning on trying Guilty Gear for the first time with Strive while not being thaaat interested in the lore, I can’t help but get kind of curious at this approach to laying out a game’s story + the implications it could have for the future of game storytelling.