Since the early days of the written word, artists have been creating beautiful hand-drawn illustrations to coincide with fairytales, legends, myths, folk tales, and religious texts. Because of this, the storybook art genre is filled with varied styles created by millions of different artists, but they usually share similarities like using water-based paints, incorporating vibrant colors, and mixing simple designs with ornate details.
Despite storybook illustration being one of the oldest art forms, plenty of developers are adapting the style for the video game medium. These games provide gorgeous experiences that harken back to the nostalgia of reading picture books.
Released towards the end of 2017, Storyseeker is an atmospheric exploration game and one of the many great games available on Itch.io. Players take control of an unnamed cartographer who must explore the large hand-drawn world in order to create a map. As the player travels between the unique areas, they will meet many different creatures who will typically have a couple of lines of dialogue that slowly reveal the narratives that make up the world's history.
Although the game appears to be a chill walking sim at first, it becomes obvious that nothing ever changes in this stagnant world. If the player interacts with all the stone obelisks, then they'll find a secret that will demonstrate the burden of simply being a storyteller in a doomed universe.
Created by Nippon Ichi Software who also developed other storybook-esque games like The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince and the scary PS Vita game htoL#NiQ, The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a side-scrolling JRPG that was just released in March 2022 for the PS4 and Switch. The game follows a young girl named Yuu who wishes to become a great hero like her father with the help of her guardian: a recently reformed dragon.
After the great hero defeated the fearsome dragon, who was known as the Demon King, the hero sparred the dragon's life and even helped the dragon heal, which led to the two former enemies becoming friends. When the hero was mortally wounded, his last wish was for the dragon to take care of his daughter. Years later, Yuu goes on an adventure where she battles foes, helps various creatures and meets new friends that can help her overcome obstacles.
Released in 2021, Minute of Islands is a puzzle-platformer that follows a young mechanic named Mo who lives with her family on a group of islands within a post-apocalyptic world. After a poisonous fungus emerged, humans had to either leave the islands or adapt to survive. To be able to exist on the island, humans now have to use air purifiers created and powered by ancient giants.
But, these purifiers have broken down, so Mo must now navigate her way through various 2D platforming segments and puzzles in order to try to save the world. While the gameplay itself is limited, it's mostly there to have players explore this grotesquely beautiful world and to support a narrative about the burden of having to be the one to carry a dying home.
Created by Alientrap who had also developed the visually appealing obscure Metroidvania Apotheon, Wytchwood is a 2021 adventure game about a witch who must collect twelve souls for a demon goat in exchange for a beautiful woman who endlessly sleeps within a tomb in the witch's garden. To do this, the witch must explore the vast world and decide the fate of the various characters she meets.
The main gameplay loop has players finding magical ingredients in the wild, crafting spells from those items, and then using the final product to either get more ingredients, see more of the world, or complete NPC storylines. With a vibrant world and plenty of references to classic fairytales, players will truly feel like they're inside a picture book.
One of the best storybook-esque video games that take place during the winter season is Year Walk, which is a 2013 horror adventure game that centers around an ancient Swedish tradition called "year walking" that allows people to see the future. Set in the 19th century, the main character, Daniel Svensson, decides to year walk so that he can see a glimpse of his future with his lover Stina.
But, this divination activity is incredibly dangerous, and Daniel will have to solve various puzzles and interact with creatures from Swedish folklore before he can reach his goal. Meanwhile, a modern-day man named Theodor Almsten who specializes in Swedish folklore learns about year walking and tries to warn Daniel about his horrifying future.
Another game with a storybook-esque art style that was released towards the end of 2017 is Gorogoa, which is a puzzle game that uses its unique gameplay mechanics to tell the story of a boy trying to meet a divine beast. During each of the puzzles, the player is given a grid with four panels, and the player solves the puzzles by moving the panels, stacking them, and changing what's inside of them by zooming in, zooming out, or panning left or right.
Since the game has no dialogue, the story is entirely told through detailed illustrations. As players help the boy collect various items, he grows older and the world gets destroyed by war and later rebuilt.
Inspired by Grimms' Fairy Tales, Child of Light is a 2014 RPG platformer about a young princess named Aurora who must save both her homeland and a new magical realm known as Lemuria. Set in 1895 Austria, Aurora is the daughter of a Duke who recently remarried after his last wife supposedly died. Shortly after the marriage, Aurora also supposedly dies, and the Duke becomes bedridden from despair.
But, Aurora then wakes up in a new kingdom called Lemuria, and she goes on a journey to defeat the Queen of the Night, Umbra, so that she can return home. During the journey, she will learn the truth about her past, make new friends, and learn about the struggles of growing up.
Developed by former BioWar e employees, The Banner Saga is an epic trilogy of tactical RPGs that are loosely based on Norse mythology. Sometime after the deaths of all the gods, the sun has stopped moving in the sky and an ancient race called the Dredge returns to kill all the humans and the Varls, a giant-like race, that live on the planet.
During the games, the player controls a large caravan of different characters as they travel across the world and solve the mysteries behind the catastrophic events. Depending on the player's choices, any of the characters can die and events will drastically change, so each playthrough is unique.
One of the best storybook-esque survival games is the 2013 Tim Burton-inspired title Don't Starve, which follows a scientist named Wilson after he finds himself trapped in a deadly parallel dimension known as the Constant. After the main antagonist, Maxwell, tricks Wilson into creating the machine that transported him to this new realm, Wilson must now try to survive by managing his health, hunger, and sanity. In the story mode, Wilson eventually finds and confronts Maxwell.
Outside of the main plot, players can simply try to survive by themselves or with friends. As one of the multiple unique playable characters, players will simply try to stay alive as long as possible.
Besides being the first Mario game to have Yoshi as the main protagonist, the 1995 SNES platformer Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is significant for its unique art-style for the time. Several years before the original Paper Mario game, Yoshi's Island already had a hand-drawn aesthetic that made players feel like they were reading a children's fairytale while playing.
The game follows the green friendly dinosaur Yoshi as he navigates through 2D side-scrolling platforming levels with Baby Mario on his back, who is trying to rescue Baby Luigi from Kamek and young Bowser. Considered by some to be one of the best games of all time, this title led to two sequels and other Yoshi-centric games.
