Storytelling in Video Games: The Art of the Digital Narrative

by Amy M. Green

Beginning with the structural features of design and play, this book explores video games as both compelling examples of story-telling and important cultural artifacts. The author analyzes fundamentals like immersion, world building and player agency and their role in crafting narratives in the Mass Effect series, BioShock, The Last of Us, Fallout 4 and many more. The text-focused "visual novel" genre is discussed as a form of interactive fiction.

Genres: Nonfiction

235 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2017

Reviews

[Jennifer Shaiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well argued and rich in the number of arguments offered.

[Raughley Nuzzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I found this to be a smidge narrow at times, it overall provided an excellent analysis of how video games take advantage of the features of their medium to create compelling digital narratives. Amy Green provides great insight into the way that stories are told, literarily speaking, using interactive media. By splitting her book into two large chunks--long-form and short-form video games--she is able to highlight how irrespective of genre or style, video games have a great deal of narrative experience to offer players. I found this book to be exceptionally helpful in conducting my own literary analysis of a video game and would absolutely recommend it as a resource or to any one interested in thinking about how video games tell stories.