Games
8 unmissable video game documentaries
Sometimes the stories behind games are as enthralling as the games themselves.
For some, video game documentaries help them understand how games are made, offering insight into the blood, sweat, and tears that go into their favourite games. For others, it's an intriguing peek behind the curtain that enables us to better understand the complexities of the game-making progress. They also offer a fantastic – and rare – insight into the wide variety of different jobs available in games, too – which makes them essential viewing for anyone looking to work in the video game industry.
From AAA studios to tiny indie start-ups, there's seemingly a documentary for all occasions. So if you've exhausted the catalogue of your usual streaming service and are looking for something else to keep you entertained, here are eight must-watch documentaries that focus on games and the communities that have been built around them.
The Cost of Joy (2019)
"When you go from a handful of indies to the world stage, it's not all Joy," warns the introductory text of The Cost of Joy, an insightful documentary that follows We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games. The documentary takes you from its first fledging steps as an indie dev to when it joining Microsoft Studio as a first-party studio, catapulting the team into the mainstream spotlight.
The movie also takes you through the development of Compulsion's We Happy Few, a dark, cautionary tale that offers an alternate take on post-war Britain. With never-before-seen archive footage and frank, transparent interviews, it's a fabulous peek at what happens when an indie studio makes it to the big leagues.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
On the surface, King of Kong is about two players sparring to become the world's highest-scoring Donkey Kong player. But as Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell go to battle, it becomes clear that it's really about the fascinating subculture that underpins arcade gaming, and the lengths people will go to to be the best.
As a riveting story full of drama and tension unfurls on camera, it portraits a cast of characters that are sometimes eccentric and often strangely captivating. This is a gaming documentary that can thrill, bemuse, and delight even those with no interest in the subject matter, and it has a surprising ability to shift between hilarious and touching.
Get Lamp (2010)
A documentary about text adventures admittedly might not sound like the most riveting watch. Get Lamp is, after all, a look at games that people read. But thanks to director Jason Scott conducting dozens of careful interviews over two years, it gets to the very heart of what it is to make games, and why they are so powerful as a means to escape from reality.
It's unashamedly lo-fi, but Scott clearly knows what he is doing when it comes to putting a documentary together. Get Lamp offers an enchanting, well-crafted way to catch up on a period in video game history that continues to influence games of so many genres, and it will soon have you thirsting to dash off and explore an interactive realm built only from words. If you have any interest in how games tell stories, you should absolutely give Get Lamp your time.
And, yes, if you pick up the DVD version, you can choose your own route through Get Lamp's scenes. It even comes loaded with a generous number of modern text adventures.
Thank You For Playing (2015)
That Dragon, Cancer, isn't an easy game to play. It's an autobiographical work that shares the lead developers' real experience of managing their son's cancer diagnosis at 12-months old. It is, however, hugely important, stunningly affecting, and demonstrates games' ability to explore complex, challenging issues with nuance and care. As a result, a lot of people braved it.
Thank You For Playing is the documentary of the creation of That Dragon, Cancer, and the experience of the family at its heart; the Greens. It's about games, and what they can achieve, certainly, but it's also a film about what it is to be human, and how we manage and share our lives. This isn't just a "must-watch" if you care about games; it's also worthy of your time if you care about people.
Raising Kratos (2019)
Raising Kratos is a two-hour movie that documents the development of Sony Santa Monica's critically-acclaimed God of War reboot. From internal discussions from the game's initial ideas to its nail-biting E3 reveal trailer to finally "going gold" and releasing the game, the documentary offers a fascinating peek for players who've ever wondered how games progress from simple ideas to fully realised products.
Though published on Sony's own PlayStation YouTube channel, the film is surprisingly candid about the ups and downs of the five-year project, including tough decisions about managing delays and fan expectations. It also explores the impact games development has on the friends and family members of developers every bit as much as the developers themselves.
Indie Game: The Movie (2012)
To a degree, Indie Game: The Movie tells a story we all know; one of tiny teams working in any way they can to deliver creatively bold games that kick back against blockbuster culture while enjoying significant success and respect. That's the journey many aspiring young developers dream of making when they set out on a career making games.
Indie Game: The Movie just happens to tell that story very well, via a focus on three games that defined the then-returning independent studio movement, and the intriguing personalities that made them. There's the profoundly thoughtful Jonathan Blow and his platformer Braid, controversial Phil Fish and his efforts with Fez, and the charming pair behind Super Meat Boy. Not every indie developer makes it big after risking it all, but it's exciting to see it when it does happen.
Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us (2014)
Grounded is a full-length documentary that takes you behind-the-scenes of one of gaming's biggest and most critically-acclaimed games of all time, The Last of Us.
This documentary is particularly noteworthy as it explores the uncertainty of developing a brand new game without knowing how – or even if – audiences will connect with the worlds and characters the team has created.
It's particularly intriguing given the recent release of its highly-anticipated sequel, The Last of Us Part II, which has also become one of Sony's biggest releases of all time. Did the team take the lessons learned from the first game and implement them into its development of the second? Well, you'll have to watch to find out, won't you? Just make sure you have completed the first game before you watch it...
Playing Hard (2018)
Playing Hard shows what really happened during For Honor's development
© Netflix
According to the filmmakers, "Playing Hard offers unprecedented access to a highly secret world where a few gamers/designers are shaping what has now become the biggest entertainment industry in the world". And they're not wrong.
The film follows the creation of Ubisoft's For Honor over four years, documenting how the production team grows from 40 to 500 people and witnesses "the human theatre involved in creating and launching a major video game". It also records what happened when – part-way through development – consent initially given to the filmmakers to document progress was summarily withdrawn, resulting in "many months and discussions for Ubisoft to reverse its decision and give the documentary's production team carte blanche".
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced
For the leap of faith.
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