There are many different schools of thought as to how gaming should be presented. Some people like epic, long storylines. Others prefer bite sized casual experiences. Still others will combine the two and let a story be handled through a series of smaller episodic experiences. Telling a story across multiple games isn’t something new.

It began in the earliest days of sequels where players would pick up with the lead character after the events of the original in a new title. But many of these games weren’t created with the intentions of being long form stories. They were just stories taking place in the same universe of one that happened to be a commercial success. It wasn’t until more recently that games specifically began being created to tell a story across multiple releases. This would lead to the advent of episodic gaming.

The advantages of episodic gaming extend to both the developer and the consumer because of the nature of the format. First and foremost for the consumer is the reduced risk associated with purchasing a new game. For the most part, episodic games are cheaper than full retail releases so if a player purchases the first episode of a game and doesn’t enjoy it, they only spent money on the first episode instead of the entire season. Some developers and publishers will actually even allow players the first episode for free to reign people in. This tactic was used by XBox’s Live Market Place on Fable 2 and is going to be in effect this month for PlayStation Plus subscribers with the first two episodes of Telltale’s The Walking Dead.

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