For this Side Quest, I have chosen to examine how three of my favorite games–Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Stardew Valley, and Celeste–introduce narrative plot. While Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley are both essentially open-world task-based games, Celeste is a challenging platformer. Despite the differing game style, they all have unique plots and characters which are revealed along the way.
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you start out with a montage explaining that you have moved to a deserted island to start a new life. You receive a few basic introductions to characters like Tom Nook–evil colonizer/landlord–and his demons-in-training, (also known as “sons”) Timmy and Tommy. Tom Nook guides your experience on the island to a certain extent, explaining how to make new tools and use them to gather resources and improve your getaway experience. As you continue throughout the game, you need Tom Nook’s help less and less, especially with new introductions to characters like Isabelle, who helps with Resident Services, and Mable, who ends Nook’s monopoly on commerce. As more villagers move in and you meet new animals on abandoned islands, you learn their backstories and personalities, and eventually receive gifts and recipes as your friendship strengthens. While the game has no linear plot, you learn from villagers and administrator-raccoons how to unlock new mechanics by completing tasks and triggering events, like the arrival of renowned pop-sensation K.K. Slider (big fan of his hit “K.K. Comrade”). In this way, interaction with the characters and physical elements of the environment drives the plot and reveals new narratives.
Similarly, in Stardew Valley, you begin with a montage describing your life at a dreary desk job before finding a letter from your late grandfather with a deed to an abandoned family farm included. Soon, you depart from your cubicle and start out on an adventure to restore the ole family farm to its former glory. Again, like in Animal Crossing, the montage is the first and last time that information is directly shared with you. Once you begin your new life on the farm, you gather narrative branches and tasks from townsfolk with whom you develop a friendship. In this game, you have a journal to keep track of “side quests” which often turn out to help your progression in the main gameplay. Stardew Valley also includes no set, linear narrative, but you can advance and unlock mechanics by getting married, expanding your farm structures/house, and restoring the community center. There are also periodical events that may trigger when you reach new seasons and grow in your bonds with other townsfolk.
Celeste differs entirely from these two games. In Celeste, you receive no real “introduction” montage. You are simply a girl on a mountain who wants to reach the top. However, throughout the levels, you meet new characters, and have memories of old ones, which reveal more information about protagonist Madeleine. You soon learn that the mountain has mysterious powers and that you have some sort of evil twin sharing a body with you. The whole game functions as a metaphor, though, so your battles with Badeleine and numerous deaths equate to struggle with mental illness. To further this plot, the levels are designed to make the player feel anxious, defeated, or even depressed, revealing more about Madeleine’s struggle and the mental health of other characters she interacts with. This game has more of a linear plot, but reveals it in a complex manner through in-level mechanics as opposed to long stretches of dialogue. Celeste is a beautiful game that honestly could double as a good therapy sesh in times of need. The narrative unfolds without resistance or great pause and allows the player to be fully submerged in the story of Madeleine.
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