10 Powerful Video Game Stories Told Without Words

The 4-ish hour runtime of 2018’s Fe was clearly designed to provoke an emotional response from gamers and tell a deep, compelling story exclusively through vague story clues and artistic direction alone.

Any meaningful interaction between characters is done by song. Both parties holding a note unlocks new abilities and gameplay options as well as ways of traversing the map. With character interaction reserved for such things, Fe must look to other methods for continuing the story.

The land in which Fe takes place is under threat from a mysterious force, and you’re tasked with reclaiming the woodland once and for all. Manipulating its colour palette to suit each situation the player finds themselves in, Fe manages to find the narrative potential in something so trivial as the art design.

The game uses delicate shades of purple and lilac to convey a feeling of safety, tranquillity and ambience, but where danger looms, the game will swiftly change to harsh, startling and bright oranges.

It is the environment, not script, that holds secrets that you will decipher one-by-one to uncover the game’s deliberately cloudy narrative.