I got a suggestion of a BRILLIANT podcast episode about just that question, but it's in portuguese. The podcast is an award winning production about ttrpg culture and design, a great listen overall (if you understand portuguese 😛)
I've typed out like five or six definitions here and I keep disagreeing with myself and deleting them 😆 but here's where I've ended up: a game where the primary way to make progress is by engaging with the narrative
from what I understand, the difference is if a game leaves space or ambiguity in the rules for what "happens next".
Our current culture *uses* spaces, but sometimes it's despite the rules. You can reflavor spells in 5e to look different than stated. But that's breaking the game, not playing by it.
See the “all games are narrative games/storygames” argument doesn’t quite land with me, because for me it keeps bumping up against the fact that this is a term that is used descriptively—if not as a coherent taxonomy then at least connotatively!
The argument “why isn’t Pathfinder a narrative game? Because it’s not a narrative game” is perfectly tautological but also I feel like it’s the only correct answer!
My first instinct would be to say something like Tetris or Balatro, which are very mechanics forward. But even there it’s possible to find narrative elements (like the Jokers), so…
Games like Chess, rocket League, and codenames feel pretty devoid of narrative to me. I also think there's a case for tactics games that often share in a narrative universe but the game itself has no tangible narrative; Attacktix, heroscape, heroclix, Warhammer ect.
I believe I've seen the term also applied to games in which the narrator remarks upon actions the player takes. The video game Bastion had this to some degree
I've always interpreted this as a game where mechanics support and encourage making decisions that are "best for the story" (which requires its own definition, I'm aware), rather just mathematically optimal.
Depending on the context, it could be any game that has a significant narrative element (pretty much any TTRPG these days), or it could be a game where the players collaboratively craft a narrative through the gameplay (such as For the Queen)…?
I think a game is narrative if the goal is crafting a story. What makes it weird is that people can play Monopoly to craft a story or play The Last of Us totally ignoring the story. :D
A lot of people use the term in different ways so I don't think there's a universal answer to this, but I can answer for the way I use the term
For me, a narrative game is a game where players are expected to interact directly with the narrative/story, rather than indirectly through in-game actions
And of course, a game might have more or less of this in its DNA, and I might describe some games as 'having narrative elements' if it's a minor part of it.
But that's the basic distinction for me; is the player expected to think about the story as a thing in itself, from the player perspective.
An experience you play in which the main focus is telling a good story
Depending on the kind of game this could be in the form of a visual novel, a very story-driven adventure game, a TTRPG, a Telltale-like, or even very mechanic driven games in which the mechanics are there to tell a good story
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https://open.spotify.com/episode/30B5kZVmPXIdfWh370311A?si=mI2m74PNTq2h3sHBYfLWqw
Our current culture *uses* spaces, but sometimes it's despite the rules. You can reflavor spells in 5e to look different than stated. But that's breaking the game, not playing by it.
For me, a narrative game is a game where players are expected to interact directly with the narrative/story, rather than indirectly through in-game actions
But that's the basic distinction for me; is the player expected to think about the story as a thing in itself, from the player perspective.
Depending on the kind of game this could be in the form of a visual novel, a very story-driven adventure game, a TTRPG, a Telltale-like, or even very mechanic driven games in which the mechanics are there to tell a good story