r/gaming • u/Asianboiforwhitedad • 10h ago

Kingdom Come Deliverance studio co-founder says a lot of RPGs are 'still games for teenagers,' and that he's 'tired of all the RPGs where you are this chosen one'

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kingdom-come-deliverance-studio-co-founder-says-a-lot-of-rpgs-are-still-games-for-teenagers-and-that-hes-tired-of-all-the-rpgs-where-you-are-this-chosen-one/
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u/FluffySheepCritic 8h ago edited 8h ago

I'm always skeptical of people who reject the Hero's Journey, or play it off as nothing more than a power fantasy. I can't help but notice that many people now days do reject it's elements, such as voluntary exposure to challenge or adversity, taking on responsibility, or embracing unifying narratives.

Being the "Chosen One" is the same as being given responsibility. You must leave the order of the known, and face the chaos of the unknown. By voluntarily rising to challenge and struggle and slaying your greatest fears you transform, becoming much stronger. In triumphing against chaos, you wield the necessary components to restore order where it has become stagnant or corrupt.

It's a story that's been told as long as humans have existed, because it's not just some "power" fantasy, it's a narrative that defines objective human truth, and motivates us to take on the journey in our own lives.

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u/Uneedajob 8h ago

I think the heros journey and the chosen one, are two separate things, and the problem is they've been warped into one. In LotR Aragon was "the chosen one" by any account.

But sam and frodo had there heros journey. Frodo is a little bit "chosen" but not really, that story is of two friends giving a grave task they must complete.

But Aragorn's story is of him denying himself being the chosen one, and finally in the third movie/book realizing he is the only one that could fulfill the role for the good of the people.

I'm so sick of EVERY SINGLE hero journey being about a "chosen" one. If that makes sense:)

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u/Stormshow 7h ago

In the books, bro never had a doubt about his chosenness. Dude was flashing the shards of narsil for clout repeatedly. His doubt / "refusal of the call" is an addition by the films and I dare say an improvement to his arc.

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u/throwawy29833 6h ago

Definitely an improvement

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u/enemyofchrist 6h ago

Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Kill the boy, and let the man be born.

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u/aggravated_patty 1h ago

I’d argue it actually undermines that message. You can face your fears and improve yourself without being specially Chosen by God to Save the World. Normal, mundane people do that every day without needing to be some Great Man.

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u/Old_Thought_642 1h ago

its people so intent on killing tropes for being tropes that they don't realise maybe these things became popular and used so often because they are good writing, good storytelling and engage the viewer? at this point I'm craving for media that actually just plays the trope straight without constant twists or subversions.

even if the Hero's journey is just a power fantasy (which it isn't) what is wrong or bad about it?

also find hating these tropes common among people who have a collectivist like philosophy.

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u/Cardemel 8h ago edited 8h ago

I do think there is a major problem in how the Hero's journey is set up in today's story telling. long story short, those chosen ones are mostly chosen right off the bat, without producing any effort prior being chosen. it's something that randomly befall on a random protagonist. most stories nowadays are like that, and it's kinda boring because it's a perfect miror of how nepo babies interact with the world. And the world is fed up with this.

A story, a journey where a protagonist becomes greater by sheer will or effort or even by enduring shit is the kind of stories we need.

And it's not even something new, there's been a lot of those set up 60 years ago. In "comics" you can read Thorgal saga or the manga Berserk even Black clover more recently to an extent use this trope, that's why those became famous in this type of media. Fantasy needs this kind of stories. Everything is a cycle and the tide is turning back

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u/scotchtree 8h ago

Absolutely. That irked me so much when I tried playing Starfield. You run a few courier missions for this group then they’re like “hey, do you want to be my boss?”

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u/dmenshonal 8h ago

that isn't what happened in starfield at all like not even close to the actual plot of the game

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u/Phantom-_-Wizard 7h ago

The amount of content that is literally just the heros journey is jarring. Most of the time it's not intentional it's just that most all stories come from a similer place and thus often have the components of the heros journey

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u/Stormshow 7h ago edited 7h ago

True, and to even have a semblance of a good self-concept one must at least partially integrate aspects of this protagonist mentality into one's own life. But the problem comes inherently in going overboard with this. I feel a lot of Hero's Journey stories are far too conciliatory towards the Great Man Theory of History and I reckon that is closer to the steelman of the criticism being levied above. A protagonist can have their own personal hero's journey, but when sloppily told, it can also feel as if the world itself revolves singularly around the protagonist, which serves to make the world feel smaller and the story feel more self-serving than it could.

Take KCD for example. Henry has his own journey and plays his part in medieval HRE politics but does not singlehandedly take down Sigismund. Compare that to the opposite extreme, say, Star Wars, where the mainline stories continually compact the entire outcome of the universe into a few cosmologically important bloodlines, which just so happen to keep showing up time and time again to do "Great Man" activities at the right time. Admittedly not all SW is like this; KoTOR 2 is literally about this exact dillema.