Like most writers, I’m always on the hunt for inspiration. Seeking a spark for their next story, some writers devour books, watch movies or tv shows, and travel to new or exciting places. But there’s another treasure trove I’ve found for inspiration: video games.

Full disclosure: I’m an avid gamer. I played video games when I was a kid, then abandoned gaming for two decades, and jumped back into it in 2020. When I’m not writing or practicing guitar (or mindlessly re-watching the Arrowverse), I’m playing or replaying a video game. I’ve probably clocked over 300 hours on Cyberpunk 2077 alone!

For any non-gamer, video games might seem like vacuous entertainment. But if you’re like a lot of millennials who grew up on video games, you understand their value as important storytelling vehicles. This is particularly true for single-player games. Beneath the flashy graphics often lie rich narratives, complex worlds, and unforgettable characters. Non-gamers may be surprised to learn about the depth of the narratives in single-player games like Assassin’s Creed Origins, Disco Elysium, Detroit Become Human, or Horizon Zero Dawn, all of which pull you in and provide helpful lessons on how to create fully-realized characters, plots, and settings.

I’m not here to suggest that non-gamers immediately go out and purchase a Playstation or gaming laptop, create a Steam account, and dedicate endless hours to dying over and over in Elden Ring until you begin to hate your life.

But I want to offer up a few ways that games have sparked my creativity, especially as a writer focused on fantasy and sci-fi. Here are some elements of video games that have inspired me and helped me improve my writing:

1. Lively and Detailed Worlds: Game writers and designers excel at world-building. From the sprawling landscapes of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey to the neon-drenched and highly detailed streets of Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City, they create immersive environments that feel lived in and beg to be explored. I have spently countless hours just walking around Night City, listening to conversations of NPCs and discovering interesting restaurants and shops….that is, when I’m not running from the police or insane cyborgs. Because my work-in-progress involves another earth with fantasy beings and advanced technology elements, the detailed fantasy/sci-fi worlds of games like Horizon and Cyberpunk 2077 have served as springboards, providing a foundation for my characters and plots.
2. Branching Narratives and Choices: Many games offer branching narratives, where your decisions affect the story’s outcome. While playing Detroit Become Human, I stumbled upon at least four different endings based on the decisions I made with my characters. This can be a goldmine for writers struggling with plot development. Experiencing the consequences of different choices in a game allows me to see how seemingly small decisions can snowball into major plot twists in a story.
3. Compelling Characters with Layers: Video games are full of memorable characters, from the noble hero of Ghost of Tsushima to the morally ambiguous anti-hero of Disco Elysium. Studying these characters’ motivations, backstories, and relationships inspires me to create more fleshed out characters in my own stories, characters with depth and complexity beyond just hero or villain. For example, I’m interested in villain characters who are somewhere in the middle on the hero to villain spectrum. Through gaming, I’ve learned how to convey this moral ambiguity in patient and subtle ways using relationship-building and even a well-placed sentence of dialogue or interior monologue.
4. Masterful Pacing and Tension: Game writers and designers are masters of pacing. They know how to build tension, introduce challenges, and keep the player engaged. I was on the edge of my seat during my entire playthrough of Batman: The Telltale Series, never sure what would happen next and whether a decision I’d made as Bruce/Batman would bite me in the ass. I envy how great some games are at pacing and tension, since these are critical elements of good storytelling and a constant struggle for me as a writer. But by dissecting how games build suspense and release it, I’m steadily learning how to translate those lessons into my writing, to keep my readers on the edge of their seats.
5. Fresh Takes on Familiar Ideas: Games often take familiar tropes and breathe new life into them. A post-apocalyptic North America becomes a playground for a neo-Mesozoic world in Horizon: Zero Dawn, while a classic revenge story gets an interesting historical fantasy twist in Assassin’s Creed Origins. Games like these inspire me to reimagine tired tropes in my own writing, and create something more unique and engaging.

While I play videogames for fun, I also use them as valuable resources for improving my writing. So, the next time you’re feeling creatively blocked or stuck in revision hell, consider jumping into your favorite video game (or trying your hand at gaming for the first time). If you’re like me, you might just find the inspiration you need to take your writing to the next level!