Empathizing With Animals – Green Media Mediography

The Deep Forest

The Deep Forest is a free collaborative mapping RPG game that addresses several themes related to but often not directly associated with the climate crisis, in particular monstrosity, inhabiting non-human perspectives and postcolonial perspectives on human-nature relationships. The game’s website summarizes the premise as follows: “For a long time, our monstrous home was occupied by

Never Alone

Never Alone, or Kisima Inŋitchuŋa, is a game developed in collaboration with native people of Alaska, called the Iñupiat. The game is about a young Iñupiat girl and a fox, who are trying to find the source of a devastating blizzard that is threatening their world. Together they have to travel through the Arctic with

Dishonored 2

Dishonored 2 is the direct sequel of 2012 Arkane Studios’ awarded Dishonored. The story takes place a few years past the events of the first chapter, and lets the player take on the role of Empress Emily Kaldwin. Usurped of her throne by the Duke Luca Abele, she embarks on a journey through the southern

Dishonored

Dishonored is an immersive-sim game set in a fictional world that recalls the Victorian Era imaginary. The player takes on the role of Corvo, the Royal Protector and master of spies that is accused of killing the Empress. To redeem his name and save the princess, Emily, he makes a deal with a mysterious demigod

ABZÛ

In the game ABZÛ, the player takes on the role of a diver in a part of the ocean. Without any knowledge on himself, the environment, or the purpose of being there, it is up to the player to discover the secrets of the deep sea. During this adventure, the player will swim alongside all

The Endless Forest

The Endless Forest is a multiplayer online game PC by Tale of Tales, in which players represent deer in a peaceful forest without goals or the ability to chat. Pictograms above registered deer’s heads represent their names. Players communicate with one another through sounds and body language. From the wiki: “During ‘abiogenesis’, every deer runs

Meadow (computer game)

From the wiki: “Meadow is Might and Delight’s latest release; a massively multiplayer online sandbox that allows players to interact as animals would. Described as a ‘forum in games’ clothing’, this online fable experience lets fans – old and new – come together and experience a peculiar world.” With its focus on nonverbal communication, the

Wolfspell

In the tabletop role-playing game Wolfspell, players embody humans that have been transformed into wolves. During the campaign, they will balance their wolve and human personalities, embedded in two dices that are used during the game: the blood die, representing the human thought (which includes the will to take risks) and the wolf die, representing

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 Japanese animated movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1982 manga. One thousand years have passed since the Seven Days of Fire, an apocalyptic war which destroyed human civilization and most of the Earth’s original ecosystem. Scattered human settlements and tribes survive, isolated from

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing is a 2022 book adaptation directed by Olivia Newman. It dives into the story of Kya Clark who got abandoned by her family from a very young age. She survives in the marshes of North Carolina by herself—living off selling mussels to a local store—and acquires the name ‘marsh girl’ from

Our Planet

Our Planet is a 2019 British nature film series, directed by Alistair Fothergill, Keith Scholey, Colin Butfield and Sophie Lanfear, and narrated by sir David Attenborough. The eight-episode film series aims to inspire its viewers to understand the natural world and to raise awareness about the human footprint on it. This is done through showing the

Our Planet Live In Concert

Featuring favorite scenes and highlights from the Our Planet series, Our Planet Live in Concert tours international arenas. Hosted by the series composer and Academy Award®-winner Steven Price, the show features spectacular visual and sound effects and on-screen narration from David Attenborough. The magnificent series score is performed live by a 44-piece orchestra. This specially-curated reimagining of the Netflix

A Life on Our Planet

A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future is a 2020 book by documentarian David Attenborough and director-producer Jonnie Hughes. It follows Attenborough’s career as a presenter and natural historian, along with the decline in wildlife and rising carbon emissions during the period. Attenborough warns of the effects that climate change and biodiversity

A Life On Our Planet

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet is a 2020 British documentary film narrated by David Attenborough. Attenborough describes this film as his “witness statement” on the current state of the planet due to humanity’s impact on nature and his hopes for the future. He shares his concern from Pripyat, a town deserted after the nuclear Chernobyl disaster on 26 April 1986, and intersperses his

Symbiosis

Symbiosis (Polymorf, 2021) is a performative, multisensory, multiuser and multi-species-storytelling VR experience. It offers a speculative world set 200 years in the future on the ruins of the Anthropocene after climate disaster has changed the world beyond recognition. This installation offers blueprints for the creation of new family relationships between humans, animals, plants and AI. On the verge of extinction, symbiosis between and the redesign

My Neighbour Totoro

My Neighbour Totoro is a 1988 fantasy story aimed primarily at children. Satsuki and Mei—a pair of young sisters—move to an old house in the countryside with their father Kusakabe as their mother recovers from an illness. The girls explore their new house and the surrounding forest, forming a secret friendship with a large forest

Rio 2

Rio 2 is a 2014 American animation film directed by Carlos Saldanha. It tells the story of Blu, Jewel and their three kids. They are Blue Spix Macaws, which is a rare species of birds thought to be almost extinct. The family decides to go to the Amazon rainforest after hearing there might be more

Ruth’s Journey

Jumbo ‘Eco-Games’ product line

Board and card game publisher Jumbo created a new line of small games for young children explicitly labeled “eco-games”, which is emphasizes sustainable production techniques, for example by “transforming old shampoo bottles, old paper and discarded wrapping paper into brand new pre-school games”. The game have a characteristic look due to the reused paper/materials, which

Evolution: CLIMATE

Evolution: CLIMATE is a stand-alone game for 2 – 6 players in the Evolution product line of board games, sharing the core systems with the original title. From the website: “In Evolution: CLIMATE, players adapt their species in a dynamic ecosystem where food is scarce, predators lurk, and the climate can swing between scorching hot

Maneater

The main conflict with Scaly Pete could be interpreted as anthropomorphizing the shark since it is a traditional revenge plot, which – played out with people – informs many similarly structure open-world games (the game has been consequently framed as “GTA with sharks”) The narrator, loosely reminiscent of Richard Attenborough’s style of documentary narration, makes

Luna’s Fishing Garden

From the game’s Steam page: “Luna’s Fishing Garden is a short, cozy fishing and building game. Become a part of a fairytale, catch fish, trade with the fox spirit, and create the garden of your dreams by planting new trees, placing water objects, and bringing animals to the archipelago.” The developers encourage slow and paidic

Dawn of the Peacemakers

From the Kickstarter page: “Dawn of Peacemakers is the third game from Snowdale Design and it takes place in Daimyria, the world of animalfolks. You will take the role of an adventurer and have to trust and co-operate with your fellow players in order to reach a peaceful conclusion between two warring sides. While you can’t directly

Skábma: Snowfall

From WIRED magazine: Skábma: Snowfall “tells the story of a Sámi reindeer herder reconnecting with the ancient ways of his people. […] At the start of Skábma: Snowfall, Áilu lives a blessed life. Under the watchful eye of his adoptive uncle, he tends to a herd of reindeer in a remote Arctic village, dreaming of