How Video Games Are Changing the Way We Understand Storytelling
In recent years, video games have evolved from simple pastimes to complex narratives that rival those of movies and novels. With immersive graphics, rich world-building, and dynamic gameplay, video games are reshaping the way we think about storytelling. While books and films have traditionally been the primary mediums for in-depth storytelling, video games are now offering a unique, interactive experience that goes beyond the limitations of passive consumption. This shift is transforming not only the art of storytelling itself but also the way audiences engage with narratives.
In this blog, we’ll explore how video games are changing the way we understand storytelling, from their interactive nature to their ability to blur the lines between narrative and gameplay.
1. Interactivity: The Player as the Storyteller
One of the most groundbreaking aspects of video game storytelling is its interactive nature. Unlike books or films, where the narrative is presented in a fixed form, video games allow players to influence the story through their decisions. The power of choice in a video game isn’t just about altering outcomes at the end of the story; it’s about shaping the experience and narrative in real-time.
Take The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as an example. Players control Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter, and their choices can drastically alter the game’s plot, affecting relationships, moral dilemmas, and even the fate of entire kingdoms. These kinds of branching narratives create a deeper sense of personal investment. Players don’t just watch a story unfold—they participate in it, making decisions that resonate on an emotional level.
This interactivity challenges traditional notions of authorship. Instead of a single, passive audience consuming a predefined narrative, the player becomes a co-author of the story. Video games are creating a new, hybrid form of storytelling where the creator and the audience collaborate.
2. Immersive Worlds: Living the Story
Another way video games are changing storytelling is through the creation of fully realized, immersive worlds. In traditional storytelling mediums, settings serve as the backdrop for action; in video games, the world is the story. The world-building in games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is so detailed and dynamic that players can lose themselves in these environments for hours, if not days.
The environments in these games are often rich with lore, hidden details, and subplots that may not even be part of the main story. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, for example, players can explore the world for dozens of hours, discovering stories and narratives that go beyond the central quest. This "story through exploration" offers a new way for players to experience narratives, where the environment itself can be a storyteller. The game's atmosphere, history, and even its NPCs (non-playable characters) all contribute to the unfolding narrative, allowing players to engage in a much more organic, personal way.
In this context, video games are becoming more akin to interactive novels or even self-discovery experiences, where the narrative emerges not from a fixed script, but from the player’s curiosity and exploration.
3. Emotional Engagement Through Player Choice
Video games also excel in fostering emotional engagement by allowing players to directly impact the emotional trajectory of the story. In films, viewers often passively absorb the emotions projected on-screen, but video games allow players to experience emotional highs and lows through their choices and actions.
In Last of Us Part II, for example, players are forced to confront difficult moral choices that challenge their emotions. The game places players in situations that are morally ambiguous and deeply complex, asking questions about revenge, empathy, and forgiveness. The emotional weight of these decisions can leave players reflecting long after the game is over.
This emotional engagement is more intense because of the player’s role in the narrative. The decisions they make are tied to their own values, often making them feel a personal responsibility for the consequences. This interaction creates a level of emotional investment that traditional storytelling mediums struggle to match.
4. Non-linear Storytelling: Narratives with Multiple Layers
Another way video games are expanding storytelling possibilities is through non-linear narratives. Traditional stories follow a linear progression, but video games have the ability to tell complex, layered stories that unfold differently depending on player actions and timing.
Take The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Although there is a central story involving Link’s quest to defeat Ganon, players are free to approach the game’s objectives in almost any order. They can explore the world at their own pace, uncovering side stories and secrets along the way. This open-world design creates a narrative experience where no two players will have the same journey or uncover the same truths about the world.
This flexibility in storytelling is also seen in role-playing games (RPGs) like Mass Effect or Detroit: Become Human, where player decisions across multiple interactions build a complex web of outcomes. The impact of each choice ripples throughout the story, leading to multiple endings and different character arcs. By embracing non-linearity, video games are breaking free from the traditional "one-size-fits-all" model of storytelling.
5. The Rise of Virtual and Augmented Reality: New Dimensions of Narrative
Looking to the future, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are pushing the boundaries of storytelling even further. VR games like Half-Life: Alyx allow players to fully immerse themselves in the narrative world, experiencing it from the first-person perspective and interacting with it in ways that were previously impossible. The physicality of VR—the ability to look around, manipulate objects, and move within the game—adds a new dimension to storytelling that feels more immediate and personal.
Similarly, AR games like Pokémon Go blend the real world with digital elements, creating an entirely new type of storytelling that exists in both the virtual and physical spaces. These technologies enable more engaging, participatory forms of narrative, where players aren't just interacting with the story—they are the story.
6. Collaborative Storytelling: Multiplayer and Social Games
Multiplayer and social games also represent a new frontier in storytelling. Games like Fortnite, Minecraft, or Among Us have introduced new forms of shared storytelling, where players create narratives together in real-time. These games often rely on improvisation and collaboration, encouraging players to work together to build, explore, and create their own stories.
In Minecraft, for example, players can construct entire worlds and tell stories through the environments they create. The gameplay itself becomes a platform for players to express themselves creatively, and the resulting stories are often shaped by the collective actions of the community.
The growing rise of multiplayer storytelling reflects how video games are shifting from being a solitary form of entertainment to a social, collaborative experience, where narrative emerges from collective imagination.
Conclusion: A New Era of Storytelling
Video games are transforming storytelling in ways that traditional media simply cannot. By offering interactivity, emotional engagement, immersive worlds, and non-linear narratives, they are changing how we think about and experience stories. As technology continues to advance, the possibilities for storytelling in video games will only expand, providing richer, more complex ways for audiences to engage with narratives.
The question is no longer whether video games are "art" or "storytelling"—it’s how they will continue to shape and redefine what stories can be. Video games are not just changing how we tell stories; they are changing how we experience them. And in doing so, they’re opening up a new chapter in the age-old art of storytelling.