The following is an episode of With a Terrible Fate’s weekly podcast discussing video-game storytelling from all angles. Find all episodes here.


However one might spin it, video games often require a substantial time commitment, usually much more so than other storytelling media. Eventually, a player might lose interest, feel overwhelmed, or simply get disconnected from her own role in the story. In this week’s main story, grounded in the first half of Aaron Suduiko’s new “Final Fantasy VII Remake is the Template for ‘Grown-Up’ JRPGs,” we discuss three ways in which long games can alienate players.

In our side quests, Dan reviews Resident Evil Village, Stefan constructively criticizes the PS5’s mute button, and Aaron argues that Final Fantasy VII Remake’s narrative structure overcomes the problems we discussed in our main story—the second half of his new article.

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Aaron Suduiko

Aaron Suduiko - Founder and Chief Video Game Analyst

Aaron Suduiko is the founder of With a Terrible Fate and a philosopher of video-game storytelling. He specializes in the impact of player-avatar relations on game stories.  Learn more here.

Stefan Heinrich Simond

Stefan Heinrich Simond - Video Game Analyst

Stefan Heinrich Simond is a game studies scholar at Philipps University Marburg working on a PhD studying the construction of madness in video games. He is the host of With a Terrible Fate's weekly podcast.  Learn more here.

Dan Hughes

Dan Hughes - Video Game Analyst

Dan Hughes has dabbled in everything from playwriting to religious studies to YouTube personas. He is the seriesrunner for With a Terrible Fate's "Now Loading... The Video Game Canon!"  Learn more here.

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