4 Narrative Video Games for Writers by Alex English

Here in Paris, we've been in Coronavirus lockdown for nearly three weeks, which should be the perfect opportunity to read lots of wonderful books. Unfortunately for me and many people I know, I've completely lost my reading mojo. Instead, I've been losing myself in the stories of video games.

There are heaps of brilliant narrative games around. Here are a few of my current favourites.

1. Thimbleweed Park is a nostalgic, pixelated murder-mystery that harks back to Monkey Island and many favourite games of my 1980s childhood. There are plenty of clever puzzles to work out and a whole lot of humour.

2. Firewatch is a spooky, Stranger Things-esque adventure game with a great script and stunning visuals. You play a fire lookout, stuck on your own in a national park and investigating peculiar occurrences. I haven't played to the end so I have no idea what's really going on here... but safe to say I'm hooked!

3. Night in the Woods is another character and story-focused adventure game. You play Mae, a college drop-out who has returned home to find things in Possum Springs are not quite what they used to be. The tone is melancholy and the soundtrack is beautiful.

4. Fallen London is my latest favourite. It's a free, online text-based adventure set in a grimy alternative Victorian London. The perfect place to lose yourself when you can't get out in the real world.


Alex English's new middle-grade series SKY PIRATES launches in July 2020 with Simon & Schuster. 

Her picture books Yuck said the Yak, Pirates Don't Drive Diggers and Mine Mine Mine said the Porcupine are published by Maverick Arts Publishing. More of her picture books are forthcoming in 2021/2022.
 
www.alexenglish.co.uk
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