'Video Games Are The Most Exciting Medium For Storytelling'

Forbes

06-04-2025

Sam Lake always wanted to be a novelist. 'Growing up, the strongest emotions I felt came from reading books' he says. The 55-year-old Finnish games developer is yet to publish a novel; instead he says he's funnelled his passion for literature into the video games he's written, which includes 2001's Max Payne and 2023's Alan Wake II.
Lake is seated at a desk in front of a large plaque that reads 'federal bureau of control'. It's a nod to a fictional agency in another game he's penned, the 2019 twisted romp, Control. Draped across the background is a set of deep maroon curtains that instantly makes me think of the nightmarish red room in Twin Peaks. It's no coincidence as Lake cites the TV show and its creator, David Lynch as an inspiration.
But it's literature that he speaks most enthusiastically about when I sit down with him over Zoom. He names authors like Paul Auster, Thomas Pynchon and Bret Easton Ellis before talking about comic books and hard-boiled crime fiction. 'I can see all of them echoing around in the stories I love writing' he explains.
Sam Lake
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At the age of 12, Lake read The Lord of the Rings for the first time and it kickstarted a binge of J.R.R Tolkien's other works. He then advanced onto tales of Norse mythology and poetry. 'Books were my first love and they've always been a part of a toolbox for me to draw [inspiration]
He's not alone as there's an ongoing trend in video games where developers are taking their influences from literature and folklore. Take a look at some of the titles nominated for the best narrative award at BAFTA's upcoming Games Awards ceremony - Black Myth: Wukong adapted the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West while Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is entrenched in Icelandic mythology. Last year's recipient of the award, Baldur's Gate 3 (which pipped Alan Wake II to the gong) takes its world and gameplay mechanics from the pages of a Dungeons and Dragons rulebook.
Of course, this isn't a nascent thing, but it's the complexity of the stories in those games that really highlights just how far gaming has come since Pong and Space Invaders. Games are no longer just considered entertainment and they frequently tackle complex subjects, whether that be trauma in The Last of Us or fatherhood in God of War.
God of War 2018 is about the relationship between Kratos and his son, Atreus.
Across his career which has spanned almost 30 years, Lake has seen a shift in how developers approach storytelling. He uses his own games as an example, labelling 2010's Alan Wake as pulpy and cartoonish compared to its more sophisticated sequel which came out 13 years later. 'The ambition has matured through the years and [gaming] has become a more serious art form' he adds before telling me that the concepts in Alan Wake II wouldn't have been possible a decade earlier. The game follows a troubled writer and an FBI agent and it mixes traditional animation with live-action sequences to tell its mind-bending story.
Separately, I spoke with the director of Metaphor: ReFantazio, Katsura Hashino, who says that it is advances in technology that has allowed video games to create more detailed worlds and subsequently, more realistic narrative themes. 'As technology has evolved, games have grown tremendously as a means of expression. We have a greater means to express the subtle nuances of a character's emotions or the ambiguous complexities between good and evil' he explains.
Hashino's sprawling role-playing game, which has also been nominated for the best narrative award at Tuesday's Bafta event, tackles social class and anxiety. He says that the interactivity offered by gaming makes a difference to how stories are presented. 'Compared to literature and movies, video games allow players to enter another world. The sense of being fully immersed is unique to games. Playing a game is an intuitive experience. To pull the player into that world completely, I think it is more effective to provide an experience that mirrors real life, as opposed to telling them a story.' he adds.
It's a sentiment that Lake previously voiced too. 'Gaming is the most exciting medium to tell a story in, just because there's more freedom to invent. Many older forms of storytelling have a format that isn't challenged. With games, there's room for exploration and innovation' he says.