Sunday 17 November 2013

The Hero's Journey: 9 of 12 - The Reward

After the ultimate shadow is defeated, the reward can be claimed. The reward can come in many forms – and not all of them are positive. Sometimes the reward can be a negative option, something the hero would rather avoid but cannot, or simply was not, expecting.

The reward is more often than not, a positive one, even if it might not seem that way to the player. For example, for a hero that has endured a long and painful cycle of continual death and rebirth, the ability to finally die and join his lover in the peace of eternal sleep is an ideal boon.

Many games end at this point. Some of these show the remaining story as a final cut scene. For other games, this is merely the beginning of the final phase.


The reward doesn't have to be the same one that the hero set out for at the beginning of the story. The important thing is to make sure that the reward reflects the effort expended in reaching it. Nothing falls flat more than an insignificant reward.

No comments:

Post a Comment