En esta ocasión, Samuel Carreño nos presenta el trabajo sobre recepción clásica en creación de mundos secundarios en videojuegos que ha realizado en su estancia con @alexvandewalle.bsky.social , quien ha presentado su investigación sobre caracterización en videojuegos ambientados en el mundo antiguo

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Was reading @alexvandewalle.bsky.social article (finally doing some reading now that the book is done, Alex!) on dev influences for Hades, Apotheon, and this and thought it looked neat and deserved a repost. @polygontreehouse.bsky.social store.steampowered.com/app/2000210/...

You can pet the dog in God of War Sons of Sparta @canyoupetthedog.com

Not on my bingo list ⤵️

TIBERPUNK

“Please enjoy the museum”: Relooted is OUT NOW! Please share!

Taught the intro class of our classical reception course today! We covered the field's history, reception mechanisms, & critical ancient world studies. They seemed to be most engaged when discussing God of War, Roman Empire TikTok, accuracy, and the aesthetics of AI reels. Excited for the semester!

Sisyphean gaming reception continues with Imagine Sisyphus Happy, an idle clicker where Sisyphus livestreams his trial. A mixture of the rise-and-grind mindset and cynical, cyclical online content creation, Sisyphus has found a resurgence digitally. Oh yeah and Thucydides is in the livestream.

One of my favorite artists, ILLENIUM, just dropped a new album called 'ODYSSEY'. Nothing distinctly Homeric about it, but it does give the listening experience a certain fantastical flair 😊

Next week Tuesday is coming as fast as Nomali can snap her fingers! Just under a week to go until Relooted launches! #indiegame

A new collection added to Exhibit:Play 👀 Deciphering Languages Featuring games from @inkle.co, @rundisc.bsky.social, @kevindu.itch.io, @playismen.bsky.social @lizardrydev.bsky.social and more. 11 games in total and always on the lookout for more.

This Saturday, I'll be presenting at this year's Hitpoints & History conference! My talk is focused on standardized temporalities in games, and how challenges to such ideas of time can lead to new experiences, or active critiques, of mythology. More information at www.hitpointscon.com!

This Call for Papers may be of interest to a lot of you: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

The more I play Dawn of Ragnarök, the more I think that this is the spiritual successor to Immortals Fenyx Rising. IFR's sequel might have been cancelled, but if you want to explore (or fly in!) a mythic open world, solve puzzles, find scattered myths, and avert a cosmic threat, DoR is right there.

Had never played AC Valhalla's Dawn of Ragnarök DLC before now, but I like the "Mythical Memories" spread across Svartalfheim. They're a nice way to establish the game's Norse mythography without relegating the stories to a Codex menu, but by actively embedding them in exploration and gameplay.

Interesting video essay by @thehiddenoneyt.bsky.social, offering a survey of current discussions & polemic/toxic fan practices in the Assassin's Creed community, calling for more actual conversation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C1A...

Just published a paper on the complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir meme, the decade-old tumblr in-joke that continues to impact the public understanding of the ancient world. Paywalled but email me if you want a copy. 🏺

Publication Day! Very pleased to see 'Audio-visual Roman Women: Gender, History and Screen Media' come out today, complete with my chapter on the agency of the female protagonist in Expeditions Rome. Open access here: www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph-de...

I had a great time discussing how Greek myth has become a standard, primary reference point for mythological projects - thanks so much for having me, Lexie, and thanks to everyone who was in the room!

Snow day means cozy work-from-home day!

Happy New Year! 🎉 On Thursday, I'll present (online) at SCS 2026 on how paradigms / ideas of Greek myth shape (players' perceptions of) games with other mythological inspirations. Many thanks to @lexie-henning.bsky.social for organizing a fantastic panel on games, I'm really looking forward to it!

1753. WRITING GAME HISTORIES ​ 👉 www.thevideogamelibrary.org/book/writing... "An accessible guide to Historical Game Studies, exploring how games represent, shape, and create history across digital and analogue forms" #Books #Booksky #Gaming #VideoGames #GameStudies #GamingThePast

Hi folks! I’m currently co-editing a special issue for GAME about queer and trans games studies. Find the full cfp here www.gamejournal.it/n-132025-bey..., deadline for abstract submission is 12 January 2026!

Enotria: The Last Song (2024), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025), and Tides of Annihilation (forthcoming) surely is an unexpected trilogy of European cultures-inspired games, but an intriguing one nonetheless

Today I organized my secondary-school-oriented 'myth in video games' workshop for a primary school, which was a refreshing change of pace! There were no major interruptions or extensive classroom management - just pure enthusiasm and fascination with games and various mythologies. Really enjoyed it!

Ok the Clair Obscur craze is going pretty far now

Featuring chapter(s) on games, both focused and (in my case) more broad scope - I looked at Persephone's narrative roles across a range of games to argue that despite seeming variety, games do not provide a wide range of possibilities or, particularly, narrative agency, for this fascinating goddess!

And now, Writing Game Histories (2026) with cover art (courtesy of @murthynikhil.bsky.social’s Syphilisation) www.bloomsbury.com/uk/writing-g...

Now that the paperwork is FINALLY done I can tell you all that 'Persephone in Love: Hades and Persephone in Popular Culture' will be coming out in 2026!!!

☁️🌊 TOROA: SKYCALL 🌊☁️ 🐥 OUT NOW ON STEAM! 🐥 Unravel the fate of the ocean and glide across an ever changing seascape in the hopes of reuniting Toroa with their family 💙 After 5 years of hard mahi, love and dedication, we're so excited to share our first game with you all 🥹 Mauri ora e te whānau!

The book's description and the table of contents are now online! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/character...

As the year wraps up, some of my favorite games of 2025: 🌙 Hades II: Complex, detailed, and epic 🪄 South of Midnight: Heartfelt, and made me explore new stories 🦸 Dispatch: Refreshing, innovative, and fun 💥 Battlefield 6: Nostalgic, cinematic, and great to play with friends On to 2026!

💥 Join us for the Durham Centre for Classical Reception Prize Lecture! 🏫 Dr Alexander Vandewalle (Gent) "Play the Hero, or Play God Characterization of Greco-Roman Mythological Characters in Video Games" 📅 5pm, Weds 10 Dec 📍 TLC123 / hybrid on Teams: tinyurl.com/yav2u5da

Ancient Egypt in Video Games is now available for pre-order! The website says a March publication, but my schedule from the publisher says Jan (🤞). The hb version is pretty pricey, but a ppb version will hopefully be down the line! Check out details here: www.degruyterbrill.com/document/isb...

From Early Access to eruption! 🌋 I’m excited to announce that Pompeii: The Legacy will fully release at the end of March 2026. A huge update lands before the Winter Sale, bringing new systems, story content, visuals, and ... #IndieGameDev #GameDev

Yesterday concluded the lecture-based part of our game studies course. We covered topics from storytelling to agency, history, gender, ecocriticism & more - it's been a great experience. Next two weeks? Students pitch creative ideas for a history/literature-inspired game, using concepts from class.

Watched the credits roll on @supergiantgames.bsky.social's #HadesII yesterday. It's an achievement of epic proportions (in both senses of the word) and, like its predecessor, such a detailed and clever retelling of the Greek myths - one of the best I've ever played. Now, on to the epilogue!

It's amazing to see that "The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Marvel Cinematic Universe" (co-edited with real-life superhero @rowandaneels.bsky.social) is finally out - available in OPEN ACCESS thanks to Play Story Press and Psychgeist editor @drkowert.bsky.social! ⚡ Massive thanks to everyone involved!

May can't come soon enough! Really grateful to the editors for including a chapter where I discuss inter-mythological games (eg Smite, Age of Mythology, GoW). I try to explain this relatively game-specific phenomenon, and how combinations of mythic traditions construct a Western-centric worldview.

hey y'all! my questionnaire on player experience in historical videogames is now LIVE! if you play videogames about the past, we want to hear from you! edu.nl/7w3yn

It's my birthday~ 🎂🥳 Two years ago, I was struggling with mental health but now I am the healthiest I have ever been, and a big part of that is because I got to work on Toward Dawn. 🐺✨️ For the weekend, my Welsh mythology jrpg will be on sale for 35% off! 🥰 store.steampowered.com/app/3140160/...

Coming Soon! www.cambridge.org/core/books/c...

I'm a BIG fan of physical media, so it's safe to say I'm SUPER STOKED that our multi-awarding winning indie game Mythwrecked will be getting a physical release!!! 🎉🎉🎉 Snag your copy below & signal boosts are most welcome folks. 🏝️ bit.ly/mythwrecked

Delighted to have a short piece in this week's TLS on Hades 2, gender, and modern myth making. www.the-tls.com/arts/hades-i...

Incredibly honored to have been selected and to be in such wonderful company - I'm very excited to travel to Durham in December. Huge thanks to everyone involved!

In video games, you will often find a fully roasted chicken abandoned on the ground, and eating it extremely quickly makes you feel better. What's less known is that this is also true in real life

printing this out and hanging it near my desk to look at next time I need to follow word counts

May 2026 👀 My monograph "Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games" will be out next year in @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social's IMAGINES series! Many thanks to @ubisoft.com for the #ImmortalsFenyxRising art ⚡ More information (soon!) on www.bloomsbury.com/uk/character...

In the name of research (but also genuine enjoyment), I accept this message