Video games, uncertainty and the Anthropocene unconscious

Abstract

Climate change is a serious issue that has presented humanity with serious obstacles. Like many other cautionary media, video games have responded to the climate crisis and helped to emphasize the severity of global warming and climate-related issues. This essay addresses the ways in which video games represent and communicate critical issues related to climate change. It discusses games that engage directly with the climate crisis and uncertainty in the Anthropocene through engaging with the ideas of Van Schaik. It then moves to discuss Mark Bould’s conception of the ‘Anthropocene unconscious’ to reveal how games that do not initially appear to engage directly with environmental issues are also pregnant with subliminal and cautionary undertones about the climate catastrophe.