Take, for instance, the sordid saga that is BioShock 2. The first game in the series made no bones about its use of Rapture as a representation of an Objectivist utopia gone horribly wrong. In fact, designer Ken Levine wouldn’t shut up about it. BioShock 2, meanwhile, has, so far, focused its marketing on the player’s ability to be a Big Daddy, a hulking diver’s suit filled with fury, sporting a motherf***ing drill for a hand. Awesome? You betcha. A conduit for the dripping, vulnerable sense of dread that coated BioShock 1? Probably not. And even if 2K Marin’s merely keeping BioShock 2’s deep story hush-hush for now, the fact that it’s not a high enough priority to be heavily promoted is telling. The sad truth is, many mainstream gamers failed to appreciate BioShock 1’s strides in videogame storytelling, but they loved setting baddies aflame with a snap of their fingers. 2K Marin’s taking that ball and rolling with it.  
 
Thankfully, story in games is far from a dying art form. In actuality, I’d say the field is more exciting than ever. It’s just changed locations, is all. With major publishers now understandably risk-averse, the indie gaming scene has risen up to take on the role of mad scientist. Every day, independent devs produce strange and exciting experiments – both in story and gameplay – on teensy budgets.

If you’re into the more esoteric (perhaps even pretentious) side of things, you may have recently taken a shine to Braid, an indie game whose drip-fed story intertwines beautifully with its time-bending gameplay. Or how about The Passage, a five minute game about the trials and tribulations of an entire lifetime? Both of the aforementioned games have received more publicity than most titles of their standing through promotions on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, and iTunes. But hey, if you’re indie, you’re probably in it for the love of the game anyway – though cash is a nice bonus.   

Here’s my point, though: Both of those games are storytellers first, and everything else second. Sure, they may not be all that “fun” in the traditional sense, but with games like these, that’s not necessarily a priority. Guns, bald space marines, and cackling villains are nowhere to be found here. Obviously, then, theses games are not for everyone, though I’d urge you all to give them a try. Fun or not – they use interactivity to spin yarns unspinnable in other mediums, conveying messages not just about their characters, but also the player.

And even if that’s not your thing, there are plenty of other stories to be told through videogames. You just have to know where to look for them. The majority of big-budget games may have found a comfortable rut, but elsewhere, people will always be trying new things. It seems, then, that the most exciting chapter in the story of videogaming is only beginning.