Westworld Is The Best Video Game TV Show

Since its first season launch in 2016, I’ve always felt like the Westworld TV series offered an especially compelling commentary on the video game hobby. As sci-fi goes, it uses far-fetched ideas and futuristic technology in order to convey its message. But at its core, it’s still a show about the psychology of people playing a game and how that game is really just about life and the decisions we make that shape that life. Although Westworld is not licensed from an established videogame license, it may borrow some of its ideas. Still, with its incisive and often surprising perspectives, it has emerged as the best show about video games, their potential, and their threat that I’ve ever seen.

You will find spoilers for every episode of Westworld’s TV series up until Season 4.

Anyone who has played an MMO could grasp the setup presented as the show’s first season got started. The real-life characters of the game are dressed in period appropriate clothing and thrust into an exciting world full of side objectives and quest-givers. Of course, Westworld’s all-important twist is the awareness and nascent sentience of the NPCs within that would-be massively multiplayer real world and the dangerous implications of a group of people willing to overlook others’ suffering to have a good time.

Beyond the repeated themes of free will that dominate those early episodes, I recall being consistently impressed by the show’s narrative, particularly its understanding of game design and writing – and the way good design demands such an acute understanding of human psychology. Whether you once DMed a D&D game for your buddies, or you’re part of a team crafting the next triple-A console RPG, it’s a truism that understanding player desires is key to creating something fun.

The early episodes of the current fourth season double down on the video game allusions and aren’t subtle about the nods. Composer Ramin Djawadi helps to open the season with another of his fascinating orchestral covers of familiar songs, this time with Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games.” The music plays to accompany the quiet contemplations of Christina, née Dolores, as she muses on a new character in the game for which she writes.

That game is a product of Olympiad Entertainment, a fictional game company in the Westworld universe that initially seems to have the same cache as today’s most prominent game studios, but perhaps even more exaggerated. The “Olympiad” name seems most likely to be a play on words to call to mind Mount Olympus, the home of the capricious gods of Greek mythology who once lorded over a helpless humanity, with recent episodes serving as ample evidence for the case.

Here in the fourth season, Christina’s dawning horror about her role in the world (as a writer of people’s fates), Caleb’s twisted journey through the equivalent of multiple game over screens and respawns, and even Bernard’s seeming capability to “cheat” by knowing the possible result of every interactive choice – they’re all clever twists on video game conventions. In each situation, Westworld’s episodes tap into established aspects of the fiction to create conflicts for its leads. But dedicated game players can enjoy an extra layer of interpretation – each character being a player or creator of a vast and inscrutable game.

If that’s the case, then why? It’s true that gaming has been a part of the zeitgeist for many years and is a source of inspiration for future dystopian fantasies. But I suspect the show’s creators have more they’re trying to say with the constant video game references.  

Many of the feelings that we experience when playing video games are echoed in repeated game-insinuations. It’s that sense that our experiences might not be entirely real, and that we should question the nature of our own reality. Like players in a game, there’s a futility to Westworld’s character experiences; everyone is striving toward something but frequently finds themselves simply having to start over from the beginning. Westworld makes gaming a way to put characters in a quandary, leaving them running for their lives as they learn new rules.

Most importantly, it’s also a way to use the show’s mind-twist setups to suggest that life, at its core, is often little more than a game, albeit a complex one. Like the often tortured characters of the show, the show’s writers seem to suggest that we all tend to get wrapped up in the conventions of the game of life we play from day to day. Goals and objectives are set. Our goals and objectives are to have fun, show flash, and get easy rewards. You can either break the rules, or you follow them. Conflict is initiated or managed. And, if we get too wrapped up in the game’s challenges and goals, Westworld’s fiction suggests that we may lose sight of the moments worth living for.

As Westworld seasons have passed, I’ve experienced varying levels of enjoyment. Its story is vast, and I find myself smiling as I see the many turns and twists. I imagine how these characters are part of an intricate and complex treatise about game design and psychology. In whatever wrap-up the showrunners eventually reach, I’ll still love how the show speaks to my love of gaming, and I can’t wait to see if its characters finally eke out a win.