From final boss battles to the dangers of open-world bloat, TV and film can learn a lot from video games

"Because approximately 80% of the final season comprised twentysomething teenagers explaining things to each other while using random 1980s objects to illustrate convoluted plans and plot points, my expectations were not high. After an interminable hour, finally, something fun happens, as the not-kids arm themselves with machine guns and molotovs and face off against a monstrously gigantic demon-crab. Aha, I thought the final boss battle! The fight was like something out of Monster Hunter, all scale and spectacle with a touch of desperation."

"For a very long time, video games sought to imitate cinema. Now cinema (and TV) often feels like a video game. The structure of Stranger Things' final season reminded me a lot of Resident Evil: long periods of walking slowly through corridors, with characters exchanging plot information aloud on their way to the action, and occasional explosions of gunfire, screeching monsters or car chases."

"I am all for TV and film embracing the excitement, spectacle and dynamism of video games, but do they have to embrace the unnecessary side-quests and open-world bloat, too? The reciprocally influential relationship between games, TV and film has developed a lot in the last few years. A generation of gen X and elder-millennial gamers have recently aged into creative and commissioning power in these industries."

Stranger Things' finale featured long stretches of exposition among twentysomething characters using 1980s objects, punctuated late by a large-scale final boss battle. The climax resembled video-game spectacle with scale, desperation and heavy weaponry. Cinema and television increasingly mirror video games in pacing and structure, including extended corridors of dialogue interrupted by bursts of action. That crossover brings excitement, spectacle and dynamism to screen storytelling while also importing open-world bloat and unnecessary side-quests. A generation of Gen X and elder-millennial gamers now holds creative and commissioning power, contributing to improved video-game-to-screen adaptations and shifting entertainment boundaries.

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