Welcome to Screen Stories: A Watcher's Introduction

Screen Stories is where I talk about the games, films, shows and other things I've been consuming.

Let me get something out of the way first: I don't play most of the games I talk about. I watch them. And before you say anything, I know, I know. But hear me out.

It started young. I grew up with two older brothers who had a complete stranglehold on the PlayStation 1. My access was, well, limited. I was graciously permitted to play my Barbie games, and by play I mean wash the horse in Barbie: Race and Ride, not actually race it,  (which my brother played more than me anyway) and, on a good day, the mini games on 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue (for the longest time I thought it was 101 by the way), you know, like the memory game where the dogs dig up matching objects (Dig Dog). The actual storyline for that game or every other game on the PS1 for that matter? That belonged to my brothers. I was audience only.  

(There are a lot more memories associated with the PS 1 but once I start reminiscing about those early games it becomes a rabbit hole, so that's a post for another time)

And honestly? I didn't mind. I liked watching them play it out. There was something about sitting back and experiencing a story unfold through someone else that just worked for me even then.

As we got older, that dynamic followed me. I watched my eldest brother play Call of Duty and Counter Strike on his laptop. He let me try CS once. I died immediately. He took the mouse back with the kind of urgency that made it very clear his ranking was not something I was allowed to touch. Fair enough. Watching him play Assassin's Creed IV:Black Flag is a core memory. I was fully along for that ride, regardless of my brother’s protests to leave him alone. 

My other brother was a different story. He was the one who introduced me to the multitude game websites. Also, a Midtown Madness, GTA San Andreas and Vice City guy. All this on the family computer, whenever we could get our turn on it. And those I actually got to play. I apparently wasn't bad, though I genuinely cannot remember enough to confirm or deny that claim. I'm choosing to believe I was amazing (Ignore my brother’s screams of disapproval).

Then they left for college, and I was left with the internet. Which, as it turns out, was exactly where I needed to be.

PewDiePie, Jacksepticeye, Markiplier — the holy trinity of early YouTube gaming. That era shaped how I engage with games more than I probably realized at the time, and watching had become a whole experience in itself.

And here's the thing I've noticed over the years: rewatching the same game through different YouTubers changes everything. Different reactions, different choices, different things noticed or completely missed. It's almost like watching multiple directors adapt the same story. 

For example, I have watched Until Dawn gameplays more than once. PewDiePie was actually the first, then Jacksepticeye, and I loved both. But then I found Jesse Cox and the Scary Game Squad and had to go back. There's something about a group of friends, drunk and witty, playing a horror game together that completely transforms the experience. It's a different energy entirely from a solo playthrough, and it made me see the game in a whole new way. That and, honestly, coming back to it a few years later as a different person changes things too. The game stays the same but you don't. 

I have done the same for many other games like What Remains of Edith Finch, Firewatch, Fears to Fathom, Layers of Fear, Detroit: Become Human, and more; just to give you my range.

So that's what Screen Stories is. It's where I talk about the things I've been watching, playing, or obsessively consuming in some form or another. Games through my own eyes or someone else's controller. I'm particularly drawn to narrative-first games and the emotions they leave behind, and being a gameplay watcher actually helps with that. When you're not fighting the mechanics or panicking about dying, you get to just be in the story.

Some people compare it to watching a movie with someone who won't stop commenting and I get why, but I would like to push back on that. The person playing has control, and that makes it personal in a way a film isn’t. Depending on who I'm watching, I experience the story differently, I root for different things, I notice different details. And sometimes the most entertaining version is the one where everything goes wrong and every character dies. That's not a lesser experience. That's just a different one.

Other than games, I will probably yap on about films, TV shows, and yes, board games too, because I have spent an embarrassing number of hours watching Blood on the Clocktower renditions online and I will absolutely be making that everyone else's problem.

The stories that stick with you, the ones you keep coming back to, the ones that change meaning eight years later. That's what this section is for.

Welcome. I hope you stay a while.

(and bear with me because there may be slower uploads but it’s all because I care too much :D)

(the setup where it all started)