How "Sanfu" Combines Chinese Horror Puzzles with Storytelling

1. Overview of the Three-Panel Narrative Presentation

The featured gameplay comes from the Chinese horror game "Sanfu" (三伏). The core story-driven mechanic relies on using similar elements within scenes to create cross-temporal game items, thereby switching scenes and perspectives. Clues from different times and spaces gradually advance the plot. For example, in the first chapter, players need to pass a realistic cola bottle to a partner in another timeline to progress the story. This cross-temporal interaction is achieved using a "Lost and Found" cabinet present in both timelines.

An even more innovative aspect of the game is its three-panel narrative presentation. The game integrates this three-panel storytelling with player interaction: in the darkroom, players can rearrange film strips to change the characters appearing at a dinner table in another timeline. Acting like a director altering the narrative montage, this unfolds entirely different storylines in a storyboard format. Different character combinations lead to different plot events, and a character's departure from the table might reveal other clues when controlling another character to explore. By switching film strips, players can find missing characters outside the dinner table, driving the game's plot and narrative development while allowing players to understand perspectives and stories beyond the main storyline.

2. Cross-Temporal Storytelling Combined with Puzzles

Cross-temporal storytelling is not a pioneering concept; a similar setting exists in the suspense novel "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store," which uses a grocery store as a medium for cross-temporal communication. Similarly, "Paper Bride 3" (纸嫁衣3：鸳鸯债), another Chinese-style puzzle game, features a dual-protagonist system where cross-temporal puzzle interactions are achieved by switching between the two characters' perspectives. What makes "Sanfu" different is how it integrates cross-temporal puzzles with the game's core "three eyes" concept. It displays overlapping timelines in a storyboard format, making significant breakthroughs in narrative presentation.

The game allows players to use puzzles and items to make the protagonist encounter characters from another timeline within an illusion. At this point, the three panels of the temporal narrative transform into comic-book-style storyboards, explaining the plot and showing scene changes in the realistic timeline.

Subsequent gameplay further explores the use of these three panels. For example, it allows the protagonist to occupy a panel while speaking, adding storyboard narratives from the original timeline to increase immersion. Switching between different scenes of the same character through the panels achieves a dual-narrative structure, giving players a god-like perspective of intersecting timelines. Each middle panel acts as a narrative storyboard for event development, while the side panels correspond to two different characters in the game. Every switch represents a transition between two scenes, revealing additional plot details about how the two characters met off-stage and planned things in advance.

3. The Importance of Three-Panel Presentation in the Game

"Sanfu" combines its three-panel storytelling with the "three eyes" game lore, seemingly giving players the experience of having a "third eye" within the game. A common criticism of third-person puzzle narrative games is the lack of player involvement and role-playing. Unlike RPGs where players have a distinct identity and a feeling of direct participation, players in third-person puzzle games often feel like outsiders, making it hard to feel involved in the story.

The game uses this design to first allow the player-controlled character to join the original narrative in the form of a panel (the third panel). Secondly, by moving or clicking (the middle panel), players can change the visuals and content, which affects the narrative in the side panels. The player acts like the protagonist's third eye, driving the direction of the plot. The aforementioned film strip mechanic also lets the player act as a director to alter the narrative presentation, enhancing immersion and the sense of identity.

4. Potential Application Scenarios for Three-Panel Narrative Presentation in Other Games

The integration of puzzles with the three panels is not very extensive in the game; it is primarily used as a narrative tool. The sense of participation in the puzzle-solving aspect is not particularly high, mostly involving character changes in the panels or interactive navigation and movement between the three panels. Adding more interactive item-finding mechanics involving the controlled characters outside of the cutscenes could increase the game's fun and playability, providing more interactive enjoyment on top of its already stunning visual effects.

Cutscenes are usually an important component of storytelling. Adding similar storyboard narrative formats to a linear narrative can increase fun and interactivity when telling stories from multiple perspectives. The game "Storyteller," released earlier this year, uses a similar design where players adjust the chronological order of game elements to create specific stories based on titles. "Sanfu" applies excellent constraints to this open-ended concept and integrates it into the game. Storyboard changes involve not only chronological order but also different times and different people acting in a given sequence within a specific scene. This effectively limits the plot's openness while bringing players a fresh exploration experience.