Unless your game is actively getting generated by AI, handling multiple branching storylines is n times the amount of work for n branches of the storyline a lot of players will never get to explore and will just watch on YouTube.
There’s no detriment to either players or developers if people do a single playthrough on their own and then watch others’ storyline choices after.
I only played through Life is Strange once, but I wouldn’t have bought it in the first place if I didn’t feel I would have meaningful interaction with the story. Story-focused games with only a single narrative thread are much more likely to get the YouTube treatment from me.
Life Is Strange is one of the most notorious games which explicitly lie to the players that the choices they make affect the plot. They do not, in a single bit.
Unless your game is actively getting generated by AI, handling multiple branching storylines is n times the amount of work for n branches of the storyline a lot of players will never get to explore and will just watch on YouTube.
There’s no detriment to either players or developers if people do a single playthrough on their own and then watch others’ storyline choices after.
I only played through Life is Strange once, but I wouldn’t have bought it in the first place if I didn’t feel I would have meaningful interaction with the story. Story-focused games with only a single narrative thread are much more likely to get the YouTube treatment from me.
Life Is Strange is one of the most notorious games which explicitly lie to the players that the choices they make affect the plot. They do not, in a single bit.