The Beat Sheet

As video games have matured as both a medium and a storytelling method, game writers have begun taking cues from Hollywood when writing their story structures. Although video game narratives often have vastly different pacing than the standard 120-page mainstream screenplays, they still feature many of the same plot points and character arcs. As a result, many modern games can be broken down and analyzed using the Save the Cat beat sheet.

One example of a video game that follows this formula is Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, an action-adventure game released in 2013. Set twenty years after an apocalyptic outbreak, The Last of Us tells the story of a grieving father who must guide a young girl with a rare immunity to the scientists researching the cure. Throughout their journey, these characters experience all of the plot points from the Save the Cat beat sheet, demonstrating that video games can successfully follow a Hollywood screenwriting formula. Those who played the game certainly agreed; with almost 100 critic’s reviews on MetaCritic as this article’s publication, the game retains a score of 95/100⁠³ and has been lauded as a masterpiece for its groundbreaking infusion of narrative and gameplay.