Toward a Philosophy of
Video Game Criticism
Gaming Under
the Influence
[Podcast]E.97
The Valheim Episode
Our discourse on the best games of all time has been forcibly interrupted by Valheim. This week the Green Dragon crew works towards a theory of survival games, specifying their appeal as a world building medium. We posit that the up-front fixation on the dialectic between player and environment makes the “inner logic” of created worlds the “remote or subject matter” of the genre (instead of individual personalities and human tensions in, say, TLoU2-style adventure games).
We use Neo-Thomistic philosophy to analyze video games as fine art. Against corporate & political interests, we argue they (should) exist solely to be beautiful: self-contained, self-justifying acts of worldbuilding. Subscribe for a nominal monthly fee to support our project. No gimmicks, tricks or bonuses: if you believe in what we do, we are happy for your help.