While writing my video about Subnautica: Below Zero, it got me thinking about the storytelling strengths of gaming as a medium (and specifically how that game didn’t play into any of them at all), and I jotted down a few notes that eventually turned into this whole thing. Yeah, Below Zero really did a number on me. Anyway, let’s take a trip together through the different ways that the unique medium of games has been used to tell stories, from the very beginnings of gaming to the cutting edge.

I cut quite a few paragraphs about certain games out of this script in order to try and keep it around 20 minutes (I failed), including Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Fallout 2, Pyre, Alien: Isolation and Into The Breach. I hope to cover at least one of those games at some point in the future.

Footage credits:

All of the below footage was sourced from World of Longplays and played by the person indicated. Everything else was recorded (and played) by me.

DOOM (2016), BioShock, Chrono Trigger - Spazbo4
Shenmue, Bayonetta - RickyC
What Remains of Edith Finch, The Walking Dead - kireev20000
The Last of Us - boneofhead
The Legend of Zelda - BimmyLee83
Donkey Kong - SCHLAUCHI
The Witcher 2 - Aero
Fahrenheit - Parazzing
Resident Evil 5 - Spazbo4 & Ironsharp

Timstamps:

0:00 - Intro
1:30 - In The Beginning
8:50 - Where's The Game?
18:14 - Do, Don't Show
29:12 - Outro