Hitting Pause for a Little While
Or the "Start" button or "Options" or "+" or whatever the heck it's called these days.
After seventeen months, ninety-eight articles, and somehow only one accidental publishing incident, I am taking a step back from this Substack.
Kind of. Let me explain.
I have come to the decision to pause these weekly Thursday articles for at least the rest of June. Why? Well, there are some pretty big life things going on at the moment that, quite frankly, require more of my time and attention. I am also about to dive into some really exciting professional opportunities which you’ll hopefully learn more about soon but which I need to prioritise at least for the short-term.
With all this extra stuff going on, the last thing I want is to sit down at my laptop each week and realise that I have no words left for The Video Game Storyteller. This hasn’t happened yet, but I want to learn from some past experiences where I have come close to such a thing occurring. I care about this publication and this community too much to produce half-baked material, or worse, whatever slop I can get ChatGPT to spit out. If you ever see one of my articles with a title like “Video Games Are More Than Just Games—They Are Also Meaningful and Fun”, you’ll know I’ve fallen.
And so, I will enjoy a very specific kind of internet vacation away from these weekly articles—again, only for a month or so. A Substack sabbatical, if you will.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to disappear completely! I’ll still be goofing around on Notes and, of course, reading all the amazing work that’s being put out by my fellow writers.
Oh, and if you’re a paid subscriber to The Video Game Storyteller, you can still expect your bonus articles to drop on June 16 and 30. I want to make sure you’re still getting full value for the extra support you so generously offer me.
With that said, I do hope that you’ll stick around during what will be a quieter month for this Substack. In the meantime, feel free to dig through the archives of The Video Game Storyteller where you’ll find everything from musings on the thematic allure of JRPG towns to a one-act play about the perils of buying physical games in 2026.
Better yet, I encourage you to read (and subscribe to) some of the other wonderful gaming writers on this platform. You can start by scrolling through this article below where I list some of my favourites:
Video Game Stars from the Stack 2025 Edition
There’s this neat website out there called Substack Wrapped. As its name suggests, this is a place where Substack writers can submit their publication, it goes through some kind of technical wizardry, and the website spits out some cool stats about the year that was. Stuff like your biggest article, the kind of topics you wrote about, and a stats sheet …
To be perfectly clear, this is not the end of The Video Game Storyteller. I mean, heck, I am so close to reaching one hundred articles, why would I stop now? I simply need to take a little break from publishing weekly to focus on some other projects before returning in the near future feeling re-energised and ready to give it my all once again. And maybe, just maybe, The Video Game Storyteller will finally have a proper About page written by then.
On a final note, I am planning on attending the Queensland Games Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse on June 27. I’m stoked to check out some local video games and meet cool people—so if you’re in the area, come and say hi!
Never stop gaming and telling stories! I’ll see you all again very soon 😊
The Video Game Storyteller is a Substack written and formatted by Harry Fritsch on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbal people, the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane).
All images were either captured directly by the author or sourced from publicly available promotional screenshots.
Want to see more from The Video Game Storyteller? Check out our TikTok channel @thevgstoryteller or follow our Bluesky @thevgstoryteller.bsky.social
If you wish to contact Harry, you may do so by emailing him at harryfritsch98@gmail.com.
Have fun on your Substack sabbatical... Substacktical
Totally understand. I’ve been through some difficult times myself, and my writing suffered because of it too. That being said, we’ll be here when you’re ready. Hope you’re able to come back feeling refreshed.