2023 TechRaptor Awards - Best Writing

Gameplay is certainly king when it comes to video games, but it's often characters and worlds we all fall in love with and look back fondly on. This year had some top shelf writing from sweeping epics to the beautifully intimate, with something for everyone to enjoy.

Here are the nominees for TechRaptor's 2023 Best Writing Award for outstanding storytelling, worldbuilding, and character creation.

• Alan Wake II
• Baldur's Gate III
• Octopath Traveler II
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Venba

Check out here for our other award categories and nominees.

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Third Place - Venba

Developer: Visai Games | Release Date: July 31st, 2023

Written by Samiee "Gutterpunk" Tee

2023 certainly offered a lot of macro-cosmic experiences - brief but insightful glimpses into culture, lifestyles, and humanity. Venba is that, and so much more – not just a fascinating look into South-Indian cuisine and culture, but a sharply written and tightly-paced work of family and what that bond represents.

Specific in execution, and universal in scope, Venba’s cooking minigames are the cherry on top of its quick-fire slew of emotional narrative beats and well-directed cutscenes. It reminded me of Unpacking where a lot of the storytelling can be tertiary to the actual involvement of the player, and it all works in Venba’s favor, leaving you misty-eyed by the end of it.

Call your mom. Tell her you love her.

Second Place - Alan Wake II

Developer: Remedy Entertainment | Release Date: October 27th, 2023

Written by Tyler Chancey

Alan Wake 2 stands out as a bold avant-garde narrative experience. It is a dense work about the relationship of creative artists with their work, a metatextual meditation on genre, and a work of disturbing existential horror about reality being altered by an imperfect architect.

Somehow with all of these arthouse pretensions removed, the main narrative of Alan Wake 2 still works on a primal level. It is a story about a writer attempting to escape from a nightmare dimension that makes creative works real. He attempts to do so by writing multiple drafts of a horror story, all without the care or consideration of an editor, which leads to terrible disaster.

Not only does this lead to disturbing twists and unsettling turns, it showcases the kind of singular narrative voice seldom seen in major videogame productions.

Many restless creatives have played Alan Wake 2 and felt seen, relating to the struggles with the creative process. General audiences were drawn in by the dark twists and turns of the work itself. The fact that both things can co-exist is a testament to the narrative team at Remedy Entertainment.

Winner - Baldur's Gate III

Developer: Larian Studios | Release Date: August 3rd, 2023

Written by Andrew Otton

The sheer volume and attention to detail in what is accounted for is likely more than enough for Baldur’s Gate III to win this award. Larian Studios took it to the next level by making sure everything, no matter how inconsequential, received a high level of craft.

There’s a lot to be said for each individual party member you have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with, all of which have touching stories exploring a variety of themes with smart writing and a high level of craft. You're pretty much guaranteed to come out of the game with a character that will rank highly in your personal all-time lists.

Beyond even that, Baldur’s Gate III shines in some of its smallest moments, too. Some of the “throwaway” scenes or NPCs that many people may never speak to are some of the most memorable. Often they're little beats that wonderfully flesh out the the world and the people that live in it.

Baldur’s Gate III excels at the large-scale, epic storytelling; the intimate and internal with its characters; and the short story you may see in just a few scenes or conversations.

We'd be foolish to think this breadth and depth of craft is what should be expected from games going forward, but it's certainly what they should aspire to be.