David Cage, the founder of developer Quantic Dream, is known for his development of story-driven games, which have been successful in many ways to a large degree. Many would argue that, despite his belief in narratives in gaming, he does not understand emotions. However, this may be a temporary moot point, as David Cage is considering moving to shorter experiences.
In an interview with OnlySP, Cage spoke about this subject. Cage, who directed games like Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, both very story-centric in their own right, expressed a desire to create shorter experiences.
“I would really like to work on shorter experiences to experiment with new ideas,” Cage said, adding that “it remains to be seen whether there is a market for such experiences.”
“Many titles suffered trying to experiment with shorter formats, so I would say that this is something we’ll keep an eye on, but we will need to find an experience that is perfectly suited before experimenting with a shorter format,” Cage expressed.
Cage’s full interview with OnlySP has yet to be released.
It is interesting that Cage is thinking of moving on to shorter games. Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human were, more or less, longer games. Focused on narrative, they were each meant to be fairly symbolic and emotional tales. While they failed on some ends, they were, nonetheless, valiant attempts to try and pull gamers’ heartstrings with the events that played out across the games’ campaigns.
Still, games like Heavy Rain were quite capable of removing the suspension of disbelief. One scene from the 2010 PlayStation 3 title had the player in the shoes of Agent Norman Jayden as he chased down someone on a sidewalk and into a grocery store, leading them to a showdown in a cold storage room. If the player didn’t perform well in a single quick-time event during this encounter, missing or failing every prompt, the whole gameplay segment appeared to be closer to slapstick comedy instead of a failed, but intense, police chase.
It would be very interesting to see Quantic Dream dedicated to shorter games. They may not have as complex a narrative, but, in the grand scheme of eliminating a meandering story with cringy scenes, it would be intriguing to see the developer try its hand more condensed experiences.
