Story mode: video games and the interplay between consoles and culture

Introduction: the novel, the game, and the long road to legitimacy

the specificity of video games and how we should talk about them

Survival horror: what are you scared of and what does it mean?

First-person shooters: the politics of death and the death of politics

The Souls series: Difficulty as a way into aesthetics

aesthetics replaced by difficulty

Metal gear solid: no heroes left, send in the heroes

Fallout and Shin Megami Tensei: whose apocalypse is it anyway?

Final fantasy: escape is other people

Conclusion: many more stories, many more audiences: game and the future.