Interactive book-teaser Sixteen Horses is a reminder of the power of text Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Interactive book-teaser Sixteen Horses is a reminder of the power of text Word. Feature by Robert Purchese Senior Staff Writer Published on 4 May 2021 4 comments What a novel way to promote a novel. Sixteen Horses: Prologue is a short interactive experience designed to whet your appetite for a brand new crime thriller of the same name, released only a few days ago, and written by game alumni Greg Buchanan, whose credits include No Man's Sky: Atlas Rises and Metro: Exodus. And though I say "whet your appetite", I realise it probably won't do anything of the kind, because it's pretty grim. Don't play it while eating your lunch. This is about a discovery of dead things. The Prologue isn't long, and it's free, somewhat obviously, and while it doesn't do anything inherently surprising or exciting, it shows how fundamentally powerful a few well-chosen words and slight interaction can be. There's a delicious moment in this experience, when you uncover the dead things, where you can choose how one of the characters reacts to the gruesome sight. Is it disgusting or is it beautiful? It's a stirringly dark thought. And your act of thinking about it: it's like a little poke at your imagination. It's a tiny moment of investment, an ever-so-slight leaning closer to the story. And when you wrap it up in music and sound effects, and a couple of nice pictures, it combines to strong effect. It's a great way of setting the scene for the book. Sixteen Horses: Prologue by Greg Buchanan, Grim Baccaris To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings None of this is new to video games, of course. They've been playing around with text since they began. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to be learned from Sixteen Horses: Prologue. In fact, I'd love to see games use a similar kind of sparsity in the amount of words used. Too many, I believe, and you dilute the power of your words overall. But what Sixteen Horses also reminds me is how powerfully text can be wielded in the right hands. It reminds me so vividly of the dream-memory moments in Lost Odyssey on Xbox 360. They are my memory of that game, not the many hours of JRPG in between. Those text-based memories, those short stories exploring the sadness of what it means to be immortal. The love outlasted, the relentless progression of time. All simply told with nicely chosen and nicely placed words, and some slight animation for emphasis. I can feel nostalgia stirring in me even now. I don't want games to lose that, or to overlook how powerful text can still be. It's why some of my favourite games come from studios like Inkle, which really seems to understand that less can be more. Inkle's Jon Ingold even said as much while talking to Aamir Mehar, in a piece about exactly this: the power of text in games. And what fine taste in games Mehar has! Incidentally, there are lots of other great examples text-powerful indie games - I don't want it to sound like Inkle is isolated here. Bury me, my Love is wonderful. But what about in bigger games? Is well-wielded text only a memory for them now? I sincerely hope not. The first of many poignant dream memories in Lost Odyssey on Xbox 360. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 28 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store