The Existential Dread of Baldur’s Gate III, Part I: In Defense of Darkness

This is the 5th article in the Video Game Cosmology series. Read the intro here. If you like my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! Content note: This article touches on issues like depression, nihilism and self-destructive urges. It also contains major spoilers for Baldur’s Gate III. After several

How Games Imagine the Cosmos, from Bloodborne to Super Mario Odyssey

This article was originally published by Eurogamer on January 30 2018. This republished version includes some minor changes. Humans have gazed up at the sky and wondered about their place in the cosmos since the very beginning. Do the same in a game like, say, Breath of the Wild, and

The Layered Worlds of Pentiment

This is the 4th article in the Video Game Cosmology series. Read the intro here. If you like my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! Spoiler warning for Pentiment. Pentiment’s ambition keeps spilling over the margins of its seemingly humble frame. The entirety of the game’s narrative takes

The Gnostic Dystopia of NORCO

This is the 3rd article in the Video Game Cosmology series. Read the intro here, and the first piece on Gnostic influences in games here. If you like my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! Spoiler warning for NORCO. "My child. I understand that you wish to remain here

The Gnostic Horror of The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

This is the 2nd article in the Video Game Cosmology series. Read the intro here. If you like my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! Spoiler warning for The Excavation of Hob's Barrow. There's something strange lurking at the heart of The Excavation of Hob'

Elden Ring: Cosmologies in Conflict

This is the first article in the Video Game Cosmology series. Read the intro here. If you like my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! From the moment we step under Elden Ring’s sky, we spend most of our time in the shadow of the colossal, luminous Erdtree; a

What in the World(s) is Video Game Cosmology? An Intro

This is the intro to the Video Game Cosmology series. If you like my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! Chances are you are reading these words on a machine fixed by gravity to the surface of a planet called Earth. You maybe use that same machine to conjure make-belief

Why Gwyn Must Die

This article was originally published by Kotaku UK on October 10 2018. This republished version includes some minor changes. Gwyn, Lord of Cinder and former Lord of Sunlight, sits at the centre of the tangled labyrinth that is Dark Souls. The harmful consequences of his presence spread through every capillary

The Doomed Heroes of Dark Souls

This article was originally published by Kotaku UK on March 24 2017. This republished version includes some minor changes. Video games usually have an easy answer to the question “What does it mean to be a hero?” It’s an opportunity for excitement and adventure, to enter a virtual world

Bloodborne, Transhumanism and Cosmic Cyberpunk

This article was originally published by Kotaku UK on August 18 2017. With all its morbid decadence, the richly-layered Gothic imagination and cosmic horror of Bloodborne tends to overshadow some of its more (post)modern influences. Bloodborne isn’t a traditionalist, after all, but a punk: or to be more

Not Yet Built and Already Ruined: The Ruins of The Green Knight and Pendragon

The Arthurian worlds of Inkle’s tactical narrative game Pendragon and the movie The Green Knight have one thing in common: the grand, pathetic ruins of castles, monasteries, and chapels. In The Green Knight, a castle in ruins is the first landmark Gawain passes as he sets out on his

The Artists and Paintings That Bleed Through Bloodborne

This article was originally published by Kotaku UK on December 9 2016. This republished version includes some minor changes. Even as you are beaten to a bloody pulp by some horrific creature, you can’t help but notice the beauty in From Software’s action RPGs. Whether you’re playing