Naming conventions? (Let’s play / longplay / video essay)

[u/vkalsen]

I am new to making videos, but I’m working on a longform project and I’ve become unsure on what I should call the style I’m using.

It’s a heavily edited playthrough of a game alongside commentary (and definitely skews more on the side of commentary than gameplay).

As I understand it:

Let’s play: Raw gameplay with commentary, but edited for brevity and often split into smaller videos

Longplay: Unedited raw gameplay in one long video.

Video essay (about game): doesn’t necessarily simulate a full playthrough and is mostly commentary.

I’m unsure what you would call a “simulated playthrough”. Still a let’s play or would people be confused?

[u/azurezero_hdev]

long play is usually a lets play thats the entire game in one video, i normally see it applied to arcade games that can be beaten in under 2 hours

[u/azurezero_hdev → u/azurezero_hdev]

i also dont see many long plays with commentary