Amy Hennig

Storytelling in games is on the cusp of transformation: fittingly, so is Amy Hennig. The celebrated creative director and writer has become almost emblematic of the state of narrative design in games. Through her work on the Legacy Of Kain series at Crystal Dynamics, and the Uncharted franchise at Naughty Dog, she helped push the medium to blockbuster heights thanks to an instinct for innovation – and a confidence that, by her own admission, hasn’t always been easy to maintain. She was set to continue with the singleplayer Star Wars game that she was working on at Visceral Games, before EA cancelled the project and closed the studio. Now, Hennig is looking to start up on her own, convinced that the future success of games as a whole lies in smaller experiences catering to a broader audience.

Firstly, congratulations on receiving the Lifetime Achievement award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. How was that?

It’s just such a warm feeling to feel recognised by your peers. I mean, we’re just all stuck in our heads and our own little worlds. We all have impostor syndrome. The people that don’t, there’s something sociopathic and wrong with them, probably [laughs]. You know, we never feel worthy of that kind of recognition. But you don’t want that to look like a lack of gratitude. I’m incredibly humbled and grateful.

It was a very loving room in general. I like seeing so many indie games winning at the major Game Developers Choice Awards, it just shows you that we’re changing and maturing. It almost felt weird that the awards were split between the Independent Games Festival and the Game Developers Choice awards, because some of the games were nominated in both areas. Does that tell us that the lines are actually blurring? You want to make sure that you’re encouraging indies, but you also don’t want a wall up: you want to be able to see games like Return Of The Obra Dinn, Florence or Celeste nominated in the big categories. Because it doesn’t matter about graphical fidelity – just, how many people did it touch? It makes us constantly reexamine the words we use when we discuss our craft. Is scope and fidelity what’s important? Or is it about the vision and the message?

It feels like games just keep getting bigger and bigger. Is that about to change?

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about this. And look – sometimes I’m careful about what I talk about in interviews, and then apparently not even careful enough, because we’re