Thanks to the success of Telltale Games, we’ve seen an increase in games that focus on narrative over gameplay. That doesn’t mean that there’s no player interaction, but that these games play out more like a choose your own adventure book. This way, the player gets to feel as if they’re taking part in the story, not just watching things unfold from a distance.
This type of game is still largely rooted in adventure game roots, however, as there’s often an inventory with items, locations to roam around, and puzzles to solve. Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier looks to streamline the experience by removing such sequences. It’s purely about player choice, which takes the form of choosing when to perform certain actions, and what dialogue trees to go down through. Another dynamic is put in play when players choose to play this with others (players can join in either via a controller or smartphone), as it becomes about group voting, which can result in politicking that is just as devious as what’s going on in the story. I’m not exactly sure this framework would be ideal for all games (I feel like Life is Strange is certainly enhanced due to exploration), but Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier at least shows that it’s more than viable when telling the right story. Due to how the plot is constructed, there’s rarely a slow moment to be had in Last Frontier, as there’s always some type of conflict right around the ...