Green Media Mediography – Utrecht University

Global Warming (Factorio)

The Factorio base game already tentatively addresses ecological impact. By default, it treats environmental degradation as a localized trigger for hostile environmental reactions, i.e. if players pollute, trees absorb the pollution until they die, and the local fauna (called ‘biters’) evolve and attack the factory walls. This frames ecology in adversarial terms, i.e. the planet

Silt

While often categorized by players primarily within the horror genre, the indie game Silt foregrounds environment and ecological systems as central components of its gameplay. Rather than treating the setting as a passive backdrop, Silt embeds ecological themes into its formal design structures, shaping player interaction through environmental constraints and engagement with nonhuman entities. Silt

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

“My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future”. The British filmmaker and naturalist, David Attenborough, has devoted his career to educating people about nature and, more recently, the climate crisis. The 2020 documentary David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet weights in on the climate crisis by aiming to subvert the traditional nature documentary

Minecraft Ecology (Minecraft)

The Minecraft Ecology Mod simulates environmental and ecological phenomena by turning the player’s core survival behavior into an active driver of pollution, which then triggers realistic environmental feedback loops. Rather than treating the environment as the usual infinite, consequence-free resource sandbox, the mod tracks pollution dynamically across the map, forcing players to think about their

Happy Shoppers

Chloé Wake and Paul Wake (Frank and Alex Games). Self-published, 2024. Free to download. 3+ players | 20–40 minutes | Adult Happy Shoppers: A New and Most Disgusting Game for Consumers of All Ages is a free, print-and-play card game designed for the Fuck Capitalism Game Jam (2024), with a revised edition available to download from

The Miasma of Miswell Hill

TTRPG Scenario Chloé Germaine and James Louis Smith. The Gauntlet, 2022. Published in The Between Season 3. 3–5 players including a Game Master | 2–4 hours | Adult The Miasma of Miswell Hill is a scenario for The Between, Jason Cordova’s tabletop roleplaying game of Victorian monster-hunting published by the Gauntlet. In The Between, players

Catan – New Energies

Klaus Teuber & Benjamin Teuber. Catan Studio / KOSMOS, 2024. 3–4 players | 60–120 minutes | Age 12+ Catan – New Energies gives the world-famous Catan a new challenge. Instead of just building roads and settlements, it puts players in a situation where they must decide whether to rely on fossil fuels for quick advantages

Ōkami

Ōkami is one of those games that stays with you long after you have played it. You take on the role of Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess in the form of a white wolf, and alongside your tiny, loudmouthed companion Issun (who, by the way, gets far too excited whenever he sees a woman), you

Daybreak

Daybreak is a cooperativeCooperation This is a dummy entry about cooperation. board game that models technological, political and social responses to climate change. It was designed by Pandemic creator Matt Leacock and Matteo Menapace. Throughout the game, the Earth’s temperature begins to rise. Simultaneously, players must contend with crisis events, such as droughts, wildfires, rising

Surviving The Aftermath

In Surviving The Aftermath, you manage a colony of refugees in a post-apocalyptic world where natural disasters, bandit attacks and radioactive pollution are constant threats. The resurgence of a modern industrial civilization in your colony is necessary to protect it against a potential future cataclysm. The game reproduces the logic of city builders of increasing

Biomutant

Biomutant is an action role-playing game set in an open world post-apocalyptic environment in which the player takes control of a mammalian warrior in a world filled with mutated animals and environmental pollution.

The Earthshot Prize: Repairing our Planet

This documentary series is made by The Earthshot Prize in collaboration with the BBC, and looks into solutions that promise to deliver a sustainable world in which both nature and humanity can thrive. The project aims to generate new ways of thinking, as well as new technologies, systems, policies, and solutions.