Digital Game – Green Media Mediography

Outbound

Outbound is a crowdfunded game project by Dutch developer Square Glade Games about building one’s own home on wheels and living sustainably off-grid by crafting workstations, sourcing energy, upgrading, customizing, and automating processes. Image source: https://www.gematsu.com/2024/02/open-world-camper-van-exploration-game-outbound-announced-for-pc

Saltsea Chronicles

Saltsea Chronicles is an adventure game set in a flooded, post-apocolyptic world. The player, controlling an ensemble cast of characters, must sail to islands and investigate the mystery behind their captain’s disappearance. The game combines a critical dystopia scenario with experimentation in sustainable game production. From Polygon: “Developer Die Gute Fabrik’s take on Earth’s current

When Rivers Were Trails

When Rivers Were Trails is a 2D point-and-click adventure game in which Oregon Trail meets Where the Water Tastes Like Wine. An Anishinaabeg in the 1890’s is displaced from their traditional territory in Minnesota and heads west to California due to the impact of allotment acts on Indigenous communities, facing Indian Agents, meeting people from different nations, and hunting,

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

A Plague Tale: Innoncence

A Plague Tale: Innoncence is a narrative-driven adventure game in which the player follows the story of two brothers, Amicia de Rune and Hugo de Rune. Set in France during the Hundred Years War, the game depicts the horrors of war and epidemics, as the title suggests. One of the peculiar features of A Plague

Fate of the World

Fate of the World not only fosters players' sense of empowerment by putting them in charge of Earth's future, but also supports Anthropogenic Global Climate Change education by founding the game upon actual climate prediction models.

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

Half-Earth Socialism

Based on the book of Troy Vetesse and Drew Pendergrass, Half-Earth Socialism is a free videogame in which you are tasked with governing the world, reducing humanity greenhouse gas emissions, protecting biodiversity, and reducing the temperature to 1 degree above industrial levels at the year 2100. To reach that objective you’ll have different policy proposals

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

As Far As The Eye

As Far As The Eye is a resource-management roguelike in which the player guides a tribe of anthropomorphic animals of diverse shapes that need to travel to the center of the continent to avoid a flood The game is strongly impregnated on the cultural narratives and practices of the tribe. As the flood is a

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

Soulframe

Soulframe is the spiritual successor to the live-service game Warframe, and was announced at Tennocon in July 2022. While Warframe already had anti-capitalist and -consumerist undertones, particularly in the form of the exploitation of natural resources in the Orb Vallis region of the game and the environmental damage this causes, the ecological sensibilities of Soulframe

Everdream Valley

The protagonist in the game only spends the summer holiday on the farm with their grandparents, i.e. this time is framed as an ‘interlude’ (rather than an alternative way of life) that should be savoured as much as possible Ties in with the genre of slice-of-life popularized e.g. in anime series; the references to anime

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

Pokémon Go: Sustainability Week

Pokémon Go is an AR game for mobile devices, where players catch Pokémon by travelling through the real world. The developer Niantic organises an annual Sustainability Week to promote local non-profits and sustainability efforts.

Terra Nil

From the game’s website: “Terra Nil is a reverse city builder about ecosystem reconstruction. Turn a barren wasteland into an ecological paradise complete with different flora and fauna. Then clean up, leaving the environment pristine. Subverting the builder genre, Terra Nil is about the restoration of a ravaged environment.” “Terra Nil, from eco-warriors Free Lives

Frostpunk

The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle Expansion Pack

The Sims 4 is the fourth entry in a series of games known as The Sims. In these games, the player is able to simulate daily life by creating individuals, known as sims, and making decisions for these sims. This way, each player can completely customize their sims and the lives they live. The Eco

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

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is an open-world adventure game developed by Ustwo Games. The game focuses on exploring the world and conserving the wildlife. On the website, the game is framed as re-creating the sense of wonder and relaxation of a child’s summer holiday and focusing on positive feedback loops as a “feel-good game about running around and doing