After its last season got pushed due to COVID-19 concerns, excitement for the return ofSurvivoris through the rooffor many fans of reality TV. The show is a staple of the genre and has had several rebirths, with many players changing the way that the game is played season after season. While many might boil down the events of the show as simply learning how to survive in the wilderness, fans know it’s about much more.Survivoris actually about strategy and how different players navigate the interpersonal relationships everyone has with the rest of their tribe.
WithSurvivorSeason 41 just around the corner, the show has likely been on the minds of gaming enthusiasts who want a proper video game adaptation. One studio stands out when trying to decide who should make it: Telltale Games. Known fortitles such asThe Walking Dead,The Wolf Among Us, andTales From the Borderlands, Telltale has produced plenty of narrative-driven games all about player choice, specifically in dialogue, making the studio perfect for aSurvivorvideo game adaptation.
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Telltale’s Relationship Building
Telltaleconstantly reminds players of their agency by telling them their decisions will have an impact on the story. While there aren’t always a ton of game-changing decisions that players make, the important choices are all about how the player treats the game’s cast of characters.
Relationship building is a huge part ofwhat makes Telltale games work, and it’s one of the best studios that places a heavy emphasis on how characters feel about the player. Despite the way they’re marketed as choose-your-own-adventure-style games, Telltale’s games are really about managing relationships with different characters.
That’s whatSurvivoris all about too, managing different relationships. The classic"they will remember that" line from Telltale gamescould be written into every episode ofSurvivoras contestants are constantly referring back to the information given to them in previous days. The majority of the game would come from these sorts of conversational choices, as how well a contestant navigates conversation and relationships is often the determining factor for if they’ll win the game at the final Tribal Council.
A Survivor Game’s Replayability
AlthoughTelltale games are usually structured using multiple episodesto tell their stories, the potentialSurvivorgame would be a little bit more streamlined. Instead of taking upwards of eight hours to complete a “season” of the game, it could be done in an hour or two, with players encouraged to replay it for different results. With a cast of at least 15 different characters, the game would have plenty of replay value if done right.
TheSurvivorgame would need to rely on having plenty of different scenarios as a result to make replays worthwhile. There are a lot of different directions that each run could go in, as evidenced by the 40 seasons of the show that all essentially stick to the same premise. There’s a lot thatTelltale Gamescould draw from to make something like this work and giveSurvivora real chance in the video game world. Game adaptations of contest shows usually aren’t usually well made or received, butSurvivoralready seems to be structured in a way that lends itself to relationship building - a gaming convention that’s become more popular over the years.
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