Take for example the Iron Keep in Dark Souls 2. The location is a bit silly, given that you take an elevator ride from a giant windmill in a poison swamp up to a mountain range you would think you could see as you approached the windmill. Questionable development choices aside, the Iron Keep is made up of an ancient castle made entirely of black iron which was so heavy that it began to sink into a lake of lava. The story in Dark Souls is told passively, so there are few cut-scenes that hammer in "This is exactly what happened here and why." The developers instead choose to tell the story via the environment and descriptions of items you pick up as you travel through areas.
Subtlety is where video games shine as a story-telling medium compared to books and movies. With Dark Souls, players could choose to ignore the story, focus entirely on the gripping combat and get through each beautifully designed zone as quickly as possible, but if they slow down and smell the corrupted, dying roses, the game weaves an enigmatic tale of tragedy and decay. The Iron Keep was not originally built over a lake of lava: a silly design choice even for a fantasy game. The lake was created when the King of that castle sold his soul to an ancient and indescribable evil that lurked in the Earth below, generating a monumental fiery explosion that caused the castle to sink and transformed him into a giant demon not unlike the Balrog from Lord of the Rings.
Other diverse locations in Dark Souls 2 include a haunted forest, a spider infested village, an ancient fort located in the woods, a painfully dark crypt, an underground gutter, and of course, a mountainous dragon lair. Each of these locations has its own tragic story that explores the main themes of the series: the disparity of light and dark and attempts by the powerful to escape the inevitable decay of time.
Dark Souls would be considered dark fantasy, due to its mature, mostly humorless tone and oppressive, haunting atmosphere. World of Warcraft, another game in the fantasy genre, is quite the opposite. On top of being obscenely massive, it is dripping with humor, both clever and trite. All of the same tropes are present: the swords, the magic, the castles, the dying kingdoms etc. The approach taken, however, couldn't be more different.
The story is told explicitly, mainly through dialogue text with non-player characters and the more thematic content through cut-scenes with voice acting. Unlike Dark Souls, Warcraft presents its story in bombastic, almost melodramatic tones not unlike Game of Thrones or other blockbuster mainstream fantasy series. The game has been around much longer than any game has a right to be, and its writing has become more absurd over time. Most games are made as one-and-done features, or perhaps if they're successful enough they'll have a few sequels.
World of Warcraft has been around for almost fifteen years. The developers are forced to up the ante for each expansion, so it's no surprise the narrative has become ludicrous. For context, the original game has received eight expansions so far. The previous expansion culminated in the players banishing the space devil to prevent him destroying the planet. How could they possibly one-up that? I don't know where the story is going to go from there, but the absurdity and humor of it all, again made possible by the outlandish high-fantasy concepts, are what I love about the game.
When designing a fantasy world, the only limit is the creator's imagination. The endless possibilities that keep the genre fresh and interesting also keep me coming back again and again. Whether fantasy games take themselves seriously like Dark Souls or can laugh at themselves like Warcraft, they hold a special place in my heart.
World of Warcraft has been around for almost fifteen years. The developers are forced to up the ante for each expansion, so it's no surprise the narrative has become ludicrous. For context, the original game has received eight expansions so far. The previous expansion culminated in the players banishing the space devil to prevent him destroying the planet. How could they possibly one-up that? I don't know where the story is going to go from there, but the absurdity and humor of it all, again made possible by the outlandish high-fantasy concepts, are what I love about the game.
When designing a fantasy world, the only limit is the creator's imagination. The endless possibilities that keep the genre fresh and interesting also keep me coming back again and again. Whether fantasy games take themselves seriously like Dark Souls or can laugh at themselves like Warcraft, they hold a special place in my heart.
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