Editorial: A Tale of Two Stories

A Tale of Two Stories

(This editorial contains spoilers for The Beginner’s Guide!)

          Last week, I purchased Humble Bundle’s latest indie package to find some new games to play over the weekend. There were a few fun ones, nothing super memorable though. However, upon finishing two of the major games in the bundle, I thought it would be fun to compare the different ways the two handle storytelling, and which one has a better narrative overall.

          I love stories. Be it in a book, a movie, a tv show, a video game, or anything else, I look listening to a good one. It’s why I want to be an author. Video games have always been a bit different from others mediums when it comes to storytelling. Sometimes your choices in the gameplay make out how the story goes, like in Undertale. Other times, you play through a movie-like story, playing as the protagonist in a narrative, like in a Zelda game.

          Today, we’ll be comparing the narratives of two different games that are almost entirely different from each other: The Beginner’s Guide and Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Now remember that this is all subjective, and entirely my opinion. However, I do feel strongly that one of these games stands superior to the other in storytelling, and it might surprise you why.

          In terms of the gameplay and overall tones, Beginner’s Guide and Octodad couldn’t be more different. Beginner’s Guide is a walk through somber, unfinished prototypes of games while a voice gives you context for everything. In stark contrast, Octodad is a colourful romp where you play as an octopus dressed as a human father on a trip to the aquarium, complete with wacky controls.

          At first glance, the story seems very different in both, and in most respects, you’d be right. Octodad features a silly story to match the gameplay, as the titular character tries to get through his day while hiding his true identity from his wife and children, and avoiding a maniac sushi chef who knows what he really is and wants to cook him into moderately priced sushi.

          As for The Beginner’s Guide, while it’s never explicitly stated in-game, you basically automatically assume that you’re being told a non-fictional story. The narrator, Davey Wren, takes you through what is assumed to be unfinished game prototypes by his friend “Coda”. As the game progresses, the prototypes get more and more gloomy and desperate, until finally it’s revealed that Davey was putting meaning where it doesn’t belong and Coda broke off their friendship after Davey shared his work without asking.

          So which of these stories got me more invested? Surprisingly, it was Octodad. While it was extremely goofy and even a little strange at times, I found myself really enjoying the characters and found the relationship between Octodad and his wife Scarlet to be completely believable and even surprisingly complex. As Scarlet vents her frustrations at how mysterious her supposedly normal husband is, you really feel that she’s going through a difficult time with her cephalopod husband, although they’re both trying to make it work.

          On the other hand, there’s The Beginner’s Guide. While at first it seems that it would be a poignant tale that would end with Davey urging people to support small developers or something like that (in fact, I was certain the game would end with Coda’s death or something like that), the ending of the game presents us with two options.

          One: Davey made the whole thing up, and tried to make it seem deeper than it actually was. Or two, and the more concerning option: you just paid $11 to play through stolen assets the original developer had no intention of ever being released to the public.

          The game ends with a message to Davey by Coda, and there were two messages that really caught my eye. One was that Coda called out Davey for adding lampposts to the game, something the game repeatedly told us was Coda’s signature of sorts. The other thing said is that Davey shouldn’t have projected meaning onto Coda’s games, and that he was feeling fine.

          A little bizarre to say that when your games include dialogue like “I can’t keep making these games” and “I don’t find this fun anymore”.

          This, coupled with the facts that the first moments of the game are Davey asking people to give him their interpretations, and that if Coda was a real person, handing out his unfinished prototypes for $11 a pop would be straight up illegal, makes me think that The Beginner’s Guide is full of crap.

          And that really makes me upset. I was really intrigued about where this game was going to go, but when you raise the curtain and find the tiny man running the huge machine, the game loses all its lustre. Given the fact that the story is the only thing the game has, without it that leaves an empty shell with nothing inside it.

          I know there are people who love and are deeply moved by The Beginner’s Guide, and more power to them for that. I just wanted to give my opinion out there that there are games that go unnoticed by people with far better stories. Some, like Octodad, hide excellent little tales underneath wacky gameplay. But to me, The Beginner’s Guide is nothing more than an attempt at modern art. It might mean something to somebody else, but to me it’s just another thing vying for my attention and cash.

Song of the Week

          The main theme from Octodad: Dadliest Catch. To me, this silly song is a fitting start for the game. I’m a real sucker for video game songs with lyrics, and although the lyrics themselves don’t really make a lot of sense, this one really matches the game it’s paired with.