Digital Game – Green Media Mediography

Heatwave

HeatWave by Perimeter Games, already announced in 2020 and potentially in development limbo, is a non-linear sandbox guerrilla group simulator that frames global temperatur escalation not just as an environmental disaster, but as a catalyst for severe geopolitical and humanitarian breakdown. Set in Alaska in the year 2080, the game uses a blend of survival,

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

Mulaka

Developed by the Mexican studio Lienzo, Mulaka is a 3D action-adventure game that focuses on Indigenous storytelling. Set in a poly-poly rendition of the landscapes of northern Mexico, the game draws from the mythology, culture, and worldview of the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) people. While players might approach it as a Zelda-inspired action game, Mulaka uses mechanics,

Darkwood

Darkwood can be classified as an eco-horror game; while most survival games feed into an anthropocentric fantasy, dropping the player into the wilderness to chop down trees, exploit resources, and build a ‘fortress’, Darkwood rejects this gameplay framework. It presents a human-nature relationship where nature is not a passive backdrop to be exploited, but an

Habitactics

Habitactics is a ‘serious’ educational puzzle game developed by Zachtronics as part of the Amplify digital curriculum (https://amplify.com/). Rather than adopting Zachtronics’ traditional complex engineering or programming mechanics, for which the developer has accumulated a ‘cult following’, Habitactics uses a modified Match-3 puzzle mechanic to model trophic levels, food webs, and ecosystem stability. The game

Beyond Blue

Developed by E-Line Media, the creators behind Never Alone in partnership with BBC Studios, Beyond Blue (2020) draws heavy inspiration from the footage and eco-philosophies of Blue Planet II. The game frames its environmental representation through a near-future narrative starring Mirai, a deep-sea biologist leading a small, high-tech research team. Beyond Blue presents a relationship

Trash Goblin

Trash Goblin is a cozy shop-keeping simulation game in which the protagonist is a little goblin running a trinket shop by uncovering, restoring, and selling unique items to oddball customers. It is set in a fantastical city scenario and players receive items from a friendly miner, whose license they can progress and upgrade over time.

Get Water!

Get Water! is a mobile story-driven, gesture controlled, endless runner-game developed for World Water Day 2013. It focuses on its protagonist Maya, an Indian teenage girl who gets pulled out of school to fetch clean water for her family. The purpose of Get Water! is to raise awareness of water scarcity and how it directly

SimCity BuildIt

SimCity BuildIt is a city-building simulation and strategy game. This mobile game is the latest version of the SimCity franchise. The game challeges users to build their own city that gets more and more complicated. Playes need keep citizens happy and, therefore, need to reduce pollution and build parks for example. Environmental motifs are woven

Immergency AR

Sliced Bread Animation, together with the Immergency team, created a collaborative game in AR that educates players on climate change policies, and the importance of working together to reduce carbon emissions as part of a XR competition. The game works as a virtual ‘escape room’, in which players go through a series of puzzles and

World of Warcraft (Ecological Succession activity)

“Ecological Succession” is a four-week-long activity during which players populate the Oasis with species from Azeroth, help these species thrive through storylines and daily quests, recruit three experts to assist in ecosystem management and earn pets, mounts, and achievements as rewards. This new world activity introduced in Patch 11.2 lets players collaborate with Ve’nari and

Last War (Greenification Mechanic in Season 3)

Greenification is the core mechanic for revealing Desert Artifacts in Season 3 of the mobile strategy game Last War. It is possible to greenify map tiles starting from day 3 of week 1 as soon as a city gets captured; captured cities will be surrounded by green tiles and selecting any location adjacent to those

Lumino City

Lumino City is a BAFTA award-winning puzzle game that addresses the topic of renewable energy. The game represents renewable energy as a functional necessity within the gameplay. To progress, the player must learn how natural forces like wind, water and the sun can be harnessed to power a small community. For example, in one early

Ruth’s Journey

Ruth’s Journey is a short narrative ecogame developed in the Netherlands by Nifty Llama. The game shifts the player’s focus toward observation and documentation of natural phenomena, with bird watching, the core game mechanic, framed as an ‘escape’ from oppressive work experience. The game utilizes photography as the primary interaction method with the environment (rather

Pokémon Pokopia

Pokémon Pokopia is perhaps the most explicit ‘environmental’ game in the franchise’s history, which makes it an interesting case study. Developed by Game Freak and Omega Force it pivots from the series’ traditional gameplay loop based on catching and battling Pokémon to a gameplay paradigm and corresponding story focused on restoration and rewilding. It has

Fe

In Fe, your objective is to save the environment from disbalance - teaching an important lesson in interconnectedness and new nature-relationships.

Whisper of the House

Whisper of the House is one of those cozy games that immediately pulls players into its gentle rhythm. Similar to the popular title Unpacking, the core gameplay revolves around unpacking, tidying and decorating the interiors of various houses. However, Whisper of the House expands on this gameplay by adding a range of charming townspeople, each

FathomVerse

FathomVerse is a free mobile game that invites players to contribute to science. By playing mini-games and interacting with ocean imagery, gamers contribute to identifying ocean animals and training AI models design to help discover and understand life in the ocean. Players tackle minigames to view imagery collected by researchers and discover ocean animals. The

Eternagram

In order to measure individual propensity to climate communication, a team led by the City University of Hong Kong created a text-adventure game that allows players to explore a non-Earth world guided by a ChatGPT-based in-game character. The researchers collected in-game dialogues of players conversing freely with the character, and player choices from designed game

Hollow Knight: Silksong

After almost eight years since the original Hollow Knight, the long-awaited sequel has arrived: Hollow Knight: Silksong. Blending Action, Adventure, and Indie elements, it presents a world shaped by detailed, hand-made 2D artwork that gives the game its unmistakable look. You play as Hornet, a former boss and reluctant ally from the first Hollow Knight.

FutureGuessr

FutureGuessr is a compelling example of an ecogame that operates primarily as a tool for visual climate communication. Launched in June 2025, it takes inspiration from the popular GeoGuessr format but shifts the focus from geographical curiosity to climate awareness. FutureGuessr uses AI to generate images of familiar, localized landscapes (like Germany or Chamonix) as they might appear in 2100 (e.g., drought, dry riverbeds).

Warframe (Vallis Undermind Expansion)

This entry is still work-in-progress. With the Vallis Undermind expansion, Digital Extremes added a content update to its live-service ‘looter shooter’ game that, while not having an overtly educational or environmental focus, clearly taps into a heightened sensitivity and receptiveness towards human/nature themes in popular culture. Pertinent design choices include:

The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature Expansion Pack

The Sims 4 expansion pack "Enchanted by Nature" presents an idealized and heavily romanticized representation of rural life and living with nature inspired by the 'cottagecore' aesthetic and the British countryside.

Herdling

The game invites players to "head out on a grand alpine expedition with a herd of loveable beasts, as you ascend a mountain path, encounter eerie dangers and surprising obstacles, and forge your way to the mystery at the summit".