Incorporating Tradition
Games can actively further the teachings of indigenous peoples, with great benefits for sustainability.
Month: February 2022
When Rivers Were Trails
Beth LaPensée reinterprets The Oregon Trail from the perspective of a displaced native man.
The Rise of World Games
Games can honor the cultures of indigenous peoples across the world, and bring them to life in a new way.
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) is a cooperative platformer drawn from the folklore of Alaskan Native peoples, specifically the Iñupiat.
Celebrate Indigenous Wisdom
Indigenous communities protect 90% of the planet's remaining biodiversity, with long-standing practices that enrich climate action.
Fossil-Free Survival
Survival games can think seriously about which methods of power generations are available to the player, and how they're portrayed.
Subnautica
Renewable Worldbuilding
Visions of a renewable future can come from the most unexpected games.
ArmA 3
Knowing is Half the Battle
Transformers: Earth War added a new mini-campaign to talk about renewable energy.
Transformers: Earth War
Reclaiming History
How can settler games avoid their colonial baggage and tell new stories about land and who owns it?
Before We Leave
This game applies an anti-colonialist, environmental lens on the settler genre.
The Extinction Achievement
Extinction mechanics, even when used ironically, are great at reminding players that no resource is limitless.
Red Dead Redemption
Settle With Care
What does a settler game that takes environmental consequences into account look like?
Anno 1800
Origins of Lanayru Desert
That time when Zelda offered an environmental parable.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Grief as a Game Mechanic
Signs of the Sojourner has an environmental grief system that both breaks us down and ties us together.
The Tragedy of Galarian Corsola
When coral bleaching came to Pokémon.
Pokémon Sword / Shield
Signs of the Sojourner
Meaning in a World of Ruin
Game worlds can be "transapocalyptic" - places that have collapsed, yet they still exist and they are still worth fighting for.
Final Fantasy VI
Braving the Lost Forest
When Monument Valley 2 made us think like a tree.
Monument Valley 2
Anthropomorphize Everything?
Anything can engender empathy if you put enough human features on it - so when should you?
Botanicula
Beyond Blue
Save the Sperm Whales
Beyond Blue has the player studying a specific pod of sperm whales and investigating sound pollution that disturbs their life.
Showcase a Climate Solution
Normalize real-world climate solutions by incorporating them into your world lore, story, and/or game mechanics.
Reveal Costs of Extraction
Challenge age-old gaming tropes to remind players that nothing lasts forever and that pillaging nature's pantry has consequences!
Put Down Your Tools
When your release day coincides with the world's largest climate protest, what do you prioritize?
Untitled Goose Game
Battlefield 2042
Climate as Catalyst
Games like Battlefield 2042 embody the risk of climate wars being fought in the near future. Or are they already here?
Acknowledge the Climate Emergency
"The most important thing you can do for climate - talk about it" Dr Katharine Hayhoe
Imagine a Sustainable Future
Unlike dystopias featuring urban decay and corruption, solarpunk helps us imagine worlds where crises are solved with camaraderie and ingenuity.
Facilitate Grief for the World
The climate crisis is a major existential threat that can be very overwhelming. Games and storytelling can help us process emotions into action.
Movement Building Games
Meet the games that lay the foundation for a new genre of movement building.
Suikoden
Shinra: The Face of Colonialism
Final Fantasy VII provided us with one of popular culture's most devastating caricatures of capitalism, colonialism and greed.
Oil Ocean Zone
Associating your villain with fossil fuel production has always been a classy move.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Deal: A Green New Election
Dirty Politics
Based on real events, Deal: A Green New Election puts players on a collision course with the frustrations of fossil fuel money in US politics
Oiligarchy
Oiligarchy casts the player as an oil executive tasked with growing their business at any cost.
Calling Out Fossil Fuel Corruption
In the world of Oiligarchy, addiction is the goal.