ABSTRACT
This chapter breaks down two games – NBA 2K16 and The Last of Us – into story beats, as presented in Chapter #6. The goal is to show how these beats find their way into every game, no matter the genre.
The author will then assess the quality of the overall narrative, not only in their usage of structure, but also in the quality of their characters and in their relationship to gameplay. This section provides unvarnished feedback on two highly successful games: one, a masterpiece in video game narrative; the other, a well-intentioned but incoherent mess.
