We’re all lost in some way, but lets not talk about that problem for once. A favorite story device of many books, movies and especially games, is the abandoned world. You’re left alone, in many cases with amnesia, and the only option is to move forward and figure this thing out.
Warning: many time-consuming links ahead.
A few of my all time favorite games use this mechanic to get the game moving: Myst drops you with a very odd explanation in a “parallel” world. The only interaction is through books. System Shock 2 sees you trying to figure out what happened on the spaceship. Again the only thing you see of the outside world are movies (from the past). Don’t forget to take it up a notch before you do a replay. Doom leaves you stranded alone on Mars (on virtually any system in the world). The initial game didn’t really have much more story than that, the Doom 3 remake, again, has movies and transmissions. Only on very special occasions (if ever) do you get to see actual “living” people. If you want to freak out on Doom, try to get these speed runs running (small preview on YouTube).
But where was I? Clearly, the initial goal of this story device was an easy way out of a number of technical problems. There’s no need for Non Player Character (NPC) interaction. Take Half-Life 2 for instance, there’s a lot of AI needed to get your teammates to fight along with you, without them looking artificial or extremely stupid. Zork just drops you in a labyrinth and the only creatures you see intend to kill you. Zork can be played online, but it’s worth it to go the extra mile and run it locally so you can save. If you want it a bit more uptodate, even Half-Life has it’s share of figure-it-out-on-your-own mods. Try this one.
No matter the origins of being left alone, it also happens to be a great premises. A start of an exploration and a story to unfold. You’re dropped somewhere and it’s all up to you.
BTW a high-def version of Another World can be bought online for less than 10 bucks. What’s holding you back?