Well...

✨ Third annual international prize for a doctoral thesis in Classical Reception Studies! 📅 Submit your thesis to centre directorDr Caroline Barron by 30th June to enter. 🔗 More details: www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

Mythological Characters in Video Games - join us for this Centre for Creative Technologies and Game Lab keynote lecture by International Visiting Fellow Dr @alexvandewalle.bsky.social. Thursday 30 April 5pm (BST), University of Bristol (in person and online). forms.office.com/pages/respon...

The ebook versions of my book Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games are now out! It's a study of mythological games and how they include characters like gods, heroes or monsters. The hardback releases on May 14th. For more information: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/character...

I've wished for Arab-made games about Arab mythology for so long, and despite assisting on the project I still can't believe there's one swinging for the fences this hard. House of Hikmah is something very needed in a time where the world would rather erase us. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZTu...

Truly a fantastic launch weekend for Nova Roma. So far it's garnered over 2,200 peak concurrent players and an overwhelmingly positive review score. We could not be more proud of the development team. Thank you to everyone who has played the game so far! You are true Roman spirits.

Our latest instalment of the #PeoplingBlog, features the exciting pedagogical work of @egarcmol.bsky.social. Here, he takes us through his course “The Ancient World in Video Games” to highlight the value of bringing gaming into the modern university classroom: peoplingthepast.com/2026/03/27/b...

As we get more 'Daredevil: Born Again' on our screens, with Wilson Fisk, Jessica and more, it might be a good time to have a look at this piece by @alexvandewalle.bsky.social and I, published at the end of 2025. #DaredevilBornAgain (1/3) playstorypress.org/books/the-ps...

Play HAMM-3R! 🚀 FREE + SHORT (5-10 mins.) >> hammer.gua-le-ni.com << An experimental game about tools and technologies made with @amidos2006.bsky.social, @demigiant.com and other friends at the @indigitalgames.bsky.social! 🔨

Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred platform and never miss an episode! Find all of the relevant links, as well as links to our website, other socials, and online bookshop here: linktr.ee/ancienthisto...

Hey folks, CfP coming up for a Workshop on Analogue Games and the Ancient and Pre-Modern Past at Durham University hosted by cool HGS folk @drhelenroche.bsky.social and @peregrinekiwi.bsky.social. Looks great; wish I could be there! submission email in the CfP

🏹🏹🏹 Mythmatch is OUT NOW on Steam! 🏹🏹🏹 AND there's a 20% launch discount! 🐐 Merge the items 💪 Unite the people 🏠 Make a home And it's Steam Deck Verified!! store.steampowered.com/app/1778050/...

🚨NEW ARTICLE OUT🚨 My most recent paper on historical agency & games is available in open access! It deals with environmental studies, posthumanism, fantasy, the 'ontological turn' in the philosophy of history & my upcoming video-game, Galar. Quick thread on the contents 🧵1/6 #gamestudies #gtp

Thanks so much for having me on, @lexie-henning.bsky.social! Really enjoyed talking games, Classics, and academia on the Ancient Office Hours podcast 😊🎮

Stoked to have this article see the light of day next year! Covering a large variety of examples (from AC to Elden Ring, WoW, Pokemon, & many more), @egarcmol.bsky.social and I conceptualize the interplay between inscriptions and games as a tripartite encounter: epigraphy in, of, and as games.

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