Cara Ellison | |
|---|---|
 Ellison in 2014 | |
| Born | 28 September 1985 |
| Occupations | Critic, developer |
Cara Ellison (born 28 September 1985) is a Scottish video game writer, narrative designer, critic, and journalist whose work spans games development, long-form criticism, comics, and broadcast media. She is known for her contributions to narrative design on both independent and AAA video games, as well as for her earlier career in games journalism and cultural criticism. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Cara Ellison was born in Scotland and grew up in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. She studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh , earning a Master of Arts degree. [5]
Before working professionally as a writer, Ellison entered the video game industry through quality assurance, including work on Grand Theft Auto IV (2008). [6]
Ellison made regular contributions to publications PC Gamer , Unwinnable and Rock Paper Shotgun beginning in 2012. [7] [8] [9]
She has also written gaming related articles for New Statesman , Paste , [10] Edge magazine and Kotaku and is a regular contributor to The Guardian games blog. [11] From 2014 to 2015, Ellison wrote a bi-weekly column called S.EXE for Rock Paper Shotgun about the depiction of sex and romance in video games. [12] She also contributed video game related articles to VICE UK in 2014. [13]
In 2013, Ellison won the Games Media Award 'Rising Star' for her work writing about games, and The Guardian placed her number ten in the 'Top 30 Young People in Digital Media' list 2014. [14]
In 2014, Ellison successfully sought funding on Patreon for her "Embed with" series, in which she became an itinerant games journalist, travelling the world and writing about the lives and processes of games developers. [15] [16]
From February 2021 to June 2022, Ellison co-hosted The Inspirational Quarterly with Davey Wreden, a podcast dedicated to reading, reviewing, and discussing Keith R. A. DeCandido's 2006 novel StarCraft: Ghost: Nova . [17]
Ellison worked for Rockstar North as a QA tester on Grand Theft Auto IV until 2008. [3] [18] In 2013, Ellison wrote the text-based interactive fiction game Sacrilege, which The New York Times described as a "raw exploration of female sexuality that also includes some astute observations about male desire". [19] Ellison also has collaborated with artist Howard Hardiman on Badger's Day Out, funded by a combination of a successful Kickstarter, with backing from the Arts Council England.
She was contracted by Arkane Studios as an external narrative consultant for the 2016 title Dishonored 2 . [20] [21] In August 2015, she gave a keynote at Dare to Be Digital. [22] Ellison provided voice acting for the character of 'Peanut' in the 2015 game Assault Android Cactus . [23] [24] She worked as the writer of Void Bastards . She was a senior narrative designer for the Hardsuit Labs project Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 until she left the project following the departure of Brian Mitsoda and Ka'ai Cluney. [4]
In June 2021, it was announced that she, alongside Brian Mitsoda, had joined The Fermi Paradox development team at Anomaly Games. [25] She later shifted into narrative design, taking on the role of senior narrative designer at Sony Santa Monica, and in 2023 joined Gravity Well, a studio founded by former Respawn and Infinity Ward developers Drew McCoy and Jon Shiring. Ellison was also named a BAFTA Breakthrough in recognition of her work on Fireproof Games’ VR puzzle adventure Ghost Town. [5] [6]
Cara Ellison’s recent work in game development centres on narrative design and writing. Most notably, she wrote the story and script for Ghost Town (2025), a VR puzzle-adventure developed by Fireproof Games, a project that also led to her selection as a BAFTA Breakthrough. [26] In recent years she has additionally received “special thanks” credits on titles including Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (2025), The Séance of Blake Manor (2025), and Saltsea Chronicles (2023). [27]
In addition to video games, Ellison has produced work across multiple media. She authored Embed With Games: A Year on the Couch with Game Developers, a collection of long-form essays documenting her travels and embedded reporting with game developers around the world. [28]
Ellison has also written for television, including contributions as a co-writer on How Videogames Changed the World, a documentary programme exploring the cultural impact of video games [29] , and on the BAFTA-winning interactive children’s television series Last Commanders. [30]
Her writing extends to comics, including work on The Final Girls, as well as interactive fiction and experimental narrative projects such as the Twine-based work Sacrilege. [31] [32]
She advocates for storytelling that emerges from systems, mechanics, and player interaction. [33]
Her work frequently explores themes such as memory, loss, curiosity, human connection, and cultural context. [34] She has written extensively about the emotional and creative labor involved in game development, as well as the challenges of sustainability, burnout, and access within creative industries. [35]
Ellison has also spoken candidly about privilege, resilience, and the need for empathy and inclusivity in both game narratives and development culture. [33]
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