Analysis of Story-driven Video Games based on Christopher Vogler's Hero's Journey Narrative Pattern - A Case Study of God of War: Ragnarök, Children of Morta, and Ambassador of Love

Today, video games have become one of the most engaging media used by humankind. Statistics show a growing trend in the use of this medium. One of the important and influential elements in video games is story and narrative, which is clearly employed in story-driven games. The present study seeks to trace the stages of Christopher Vogler’s Hero’s Journey in game narratives and to examine the transformations resulting from the entry of this cinematic narrative pattern into the realm of video games. This research, using a qualitative content analysis method and a coding protocol with MaxQDA software in a “directed” approach, has been conducted on major and influential global games (God of War: Ragnarök) and Iranian games (Children of Morta and Ambassador of Love). The article demonstrates that Vogler’s Hero’s Journey narrative pattern—previously used in cinematic storytelling—has also been applied in story-driven and narrative-based video games. Although some stages of this narrative pattern have been omitted, altered, or distributed among multiple characters, its overall structure has been preserved. Consequently, in some games such as God of War, the hero’s journey transforms into “heroes’ journeys,” with several parallel journeys narrated for multiple heroes; in works such as Children of Morta, heroic characteristics are distributed among several characters, while in the game Ambassador of Love some stages have been removed. The analysis of these games shows that Vogler’s Hero’s Journey model can effectively contribute to player engagement, and that even its developed variations can be more impactful.