Best Video Essays on Video Games

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Theologian78

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Hi all,

I was wondering if people had good recommendations for solid and interesting video-essays on video games. I've seen Tropes vs. Women, and I'm wondering if there are others that people would recommend (doesn't have to be gender-related, but the more intellectual the better).

Thanks in advance!

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afterlifejosh

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Here are a few that I like:

  • Ahoy - https://www.youtube.com/user/XboxAhoy/featured
    • Their videos usually revolve around the history of weapons in video games.
  • Mark Brown - https://www.youtube.com/user/McBacon1337/featured
    • These video focus on the game design.
  • Raycevick - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1JTQBa5QxZCpXrFSkMxmPw/featured
    • This channel dives deeps into specific games and franchise. Talking about the game's history, their impact, and evolution.
  • Core-A Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT7njg__VOy3n-SvXemDHvg/videos
    • These videos go deep into fighting games.

Hope this was stuff you were looking for.

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sweep

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#3 sweep  Moderator

Check out the critical path project, it's a series of short interviews with developers about game design.

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Theologian78

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Thank you both very much!

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The_Greg

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#9  Edited By The_Greg

There's a channel on YouTube called SorcererDave.

He's done a couple of 'essay' videos about Morrowind and the Elder Scrolls series in general, and I found them quite interesting, as an Elder Scrolls fan.

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Meltac

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Errant Signal is definitely worth checking out as well.

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Theologian78

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Thank you!

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teo22

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Examined life of Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7BwRIA8-f4-BQRUd4BQ3Ew

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willin

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Less essay, more critque but Matthewmatosis is making fantastic content. His videos on Zelda and Metal Gear are particularly great.

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soulcake

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"Points two fingers at a videogame logo", Whatever you watch don't watch cleanprincegamming dude is a hackfraud and youtube algorithms love him. Ahoy is great and definitely try to check out CoolGhosts Matt Lees is alright.

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KavaJava

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I'd recommend Noah Caldwell Gervais. His essay on Planescape Torment, as well as the Far Cry and Call of Juarez series are all excellent, as is his Travelogue going through the American Midwest in a VW van.

I second this.

I also like H Bomber Guy although most of his stuff is not about video games. When he does talk about games it is very good.

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sombre

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mikewhy

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ajamafalous

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wollywoo

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I am echoing appreciation for Mark Brown and Errant Signal. Also calling out Extra Credits and anything by Tim Rogers, aka, the perfect human form.

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#34  Edited By Nodima

It's not so much an essay as an exhaustive examination, and it goes a bit off the rails once it stops neatly following the progression of the game's story to explore the side content and DLC, but Aegon of Astoria's Let's Talk Lore series on Bloodborne is one of the few non-Giant Bomb, Youtuber type things I've ever watched a single episode of, let alone soaked up excitedly from start to finish. It's fascinating to me how much... insight he has into that game's lore just based on item descriptions, environmental detail, level design and character garments/placement; I haven't even beat the game myself but I had to let him spoil the end of the game for me just to see how he'd wrap everything up.

If the series has any weaknesses that could immediately turn people off of the series, it's that he has a very dry (academic) presentation style and the series is long - 28ish episodes that run anywhere from an hour and thirty minutes to three hours long - primarily because he narrates his gameplay with outlines rather than a script, so he'll sometimes take a minute to get around to a point or find himself suddenly cross examining himself. I found all that endearing, though, and his involvement of reader questions and speculation at the end of each episode is a nice touch, especially again in the earlier episodes when the game was still fairly new and the DLC hadn't tied up several loose ends in the lore.