Just listened to @alexvandewalle.bsky.social's episode about Greek myth and video games on @ancienthistory101.org this morning. Great stuff and made me excited to teach my games course again next fall. Also sharing it with my myth students today.
Alexander Vandewalle
@alexvandewalle.bsky.social
Postdoc at Ghent University // Video games and mythology // DiGRA Belgium Co-Chair
International Journal of the Classical Tradition Vol. 33, No. 3 (2026) link.springer.com/journal/1213... @alexvandewalle.bsky.social
International Journal of the Classical Tradition
International Journal of the Classical Tradition examines the reception of Greek and Roman antiquity from ancient to modern times. Focuses on the creative ...
link.springer.com
Decided to do a 2026 roundup of video games set in or inspired by antiquity. Hope it's useful to some. A lot of really interesting ideas in recently released and upcoming games! From reimaginings of myths to HD versions of classics to Pokémon! anotherclassicsblog.wordpress.com/2026/08/22/2...
2026 Classics Summer Video Games Roundup
A collection of recently announced and released games and modifications set in or inspired by Mediterranean antiquity The ancient Mediterranean continues to be fertile ground for developers creatin…
anotherclassicsblog.wordpress.com
Eduardo García-Molina@egarcmol.bsky.social · 2w agoSo many promising smaller games set in antiquity popping up on Steam. Turn-based Greek colonization and army management game?! Instant wishlist.
So many promising smaller games set in antiquity popping up on Steam. Turn-based Greek colonization and army management game?! Instant wishlist.
I grew up playing games like Age of Empires. The Festival is our way of giving back, an exploration of what happens when you bring together game designers, heritage professionals, academic researchers and players to imagine better historical games. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eof...
Festival of History and Heritage in Games
YouTube video by University of Bristol
youtube.com
My personal discovery of the summer has been Sovereign Tower, an Arthurian-esque version of last year's Dispatch where you manage the knights of your Round Table and send them on quests. Great art style, lots of choices, and funny dialogue, too - recommended! store.steampowered.com/app/4113940/...
Save 15% on Sovereign Tower on Steam
Play as the Sovereign of a magical tower in this story-rich, Round Table management RPG. Recruit eccentric Knights, assign quests and balance egos whilst carving out your kingdom's destiny. If destiny...
store.steampowered.com
🗃️ #AncientBluesky educators, just a psa that my Designing Historical Games -- for classroom educators making historical boardgames and choice-based texts for classes AND guiding students to make them-- is out just in time for Semester 1. www.routledge.com/Designing-Hi...
Designing Historical Games for Classrooms: A Practical Guide for Educators
Designing Historical Games for Classrooms: A Practical Guide for Educators is a complete introductory guide for designing analog games and interactive choice‑based historical texts for history classes...
routledge.com
Mythography is the collection and compilation of myths, and the genre is millennia old - who knew that video games would continue the tradition? Our full episode on Greek Mythology in Video Games with Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social is out now!
With all the furore over Nolan's diverse Odyssey cast, it turns out that video games have quietly been diversifying their own casts for years. Take the non-binary depiction of Hermes of #StrayGods! Our full episode examining Greek myths in video games with @alexvandewalle.bsky.social is out now!
This was an interesting piece to write, reflecting on how stories changes over time, how they both shape and are shaped by ideas of national identity, and how that feeds into my own current work. I've been following the HGN blog posts for a while now - it was lovely being invited to contribute!
Historical Games Network@historygamesnet.bsky.social · last mo.New post! ✍️ The first for our "Nations" theme, Stevan Anastasoff writes about the ongoing development of Tales of the Mabinogion (@mabinogiongame.bsky.social), translating Welsh history, stories and language into game design through layers of interpretation 🏴 www.historicalgames.net/making-tales...
Had a genuine blast talking with @belovedofoizys.bsky.social on the Ancient History 101 Podcast about everything video games and mythology! We talk about games like Hades, Odyssey, Stray Gods, and more, and even about the kind of games we'd make ourselves. Thanks again for having me!
Ancient History 101 Podcast@ancienthistory101.org · last mo.Something a little different this week! Our new episode with @alexvandewalle.bsky.social talks about the various ways that video games treat and portray Greek myth, and it's more diverse than you might imagine! We discuss more than half a dozen games, from the good, the bad to the downright weird!
YES
Alexander Vandewalle@alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 2mo agoNew article out! 🎮🚨 I explore hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forces in video game receptions of Greco-Roman mythology, considering whether the contrast between conservative and progressive depictions maps onto the similar distinction between AAA and indie games. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
New article out! 🎮🚨 I explore hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forces in video game receptions of Greco-Roman mythology, considering whether the contrast between conservative and progressive depictions maps onto the similar distinction between AAA and indie games. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
AAA Versus Indie? Hegemonic and Counter-Hegemonic Forces in Video Game Receptions of Greco-Roman Mythology - International Journal of the Classical Tradition
The reception and tradition of Greco-Roman mythology in video games is traditionally considered as violent, masculine and sexist. Nevertheless, there are alternatives to this generalising description,...
link.springer.com
#CFP [chapters] Ten Years of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Legacy, Impact, Future - eds. Richard Cole & Alexander Vandewalle (Screening Antiquity series at Edinburgh University Press) Abstracts due August 24, 2026 bristoldigitalgamelab.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2026/06/19/c...
Call for papers! 📢 🎮 @richardcole.bsky.social and I are co-editing an academic volume entitled "Ten Years of Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy, Impact, Future". The goal is to analyze how the game has shaped popular understandings of antiquity. Abstracts due August 24 - all information below!
Richard Cole@richardcole.bsky.social · 2mo ago@alexvandewalle.bsky.social and I have a habit of dreaming up long term gaming projects in bars and at conferences. This one was on a walk back from a bar. We're delighted to share a call for papers for an edited collection on: *Ten Years of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Legacy, Impact, Future*
Traveling to Ireland tomorrow for #DiGRA2026, where I'll present a paper on mythological game mechanics beyond pure violence (w/ Marco Caracciolo), and another on haptics & focalization in video games, VR, and 4DX film (or, just a sneaky way to talk about Star Wars). Looking forward to it!
You know the economy is bad when the silver studs in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight now only give you 1 instead of 10 points...
Game changer ⬇️
Dr Kate Cook@katexe.bsky.social · 3mo agoDelighted to see that the Routledge Companion to Video Games and History now has a webpage and a cover! There will be an ebook (which given the length of this I imagine will be many people's preferred reading approach), it just doesn't show on the page yet. www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...
God of War Laufey was announced last night, featuring Faye as protagonist and set in the Afterlife of the Gods where she meets (dead) gods from various mythologies ⚡ If only someone had just published a chapter on games & mythological crossovers... www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLMX...
God of War Laufey - Gameplay Reveal Trailer | PS5 Games
*Audio Description Available* Death was supposed to be the end, bu...
youtube.com
Was delighted to contribute with my fellow series editors to this piece on intersections between the Humanities disciplines and game studies in our series and more broadly, as part of a great collection!
dehypotheses@dehypotheses.bsky.social · 3mo ago“What do the humanities do with video games and what do video games do to the humanities?” Games shape memory, ideology, space, identity, and cultural imagination. Why #GameStudies need disciplinary heterogeneity ⬇️ gespielt.hypotheses.... via AKGWDS
Next week, I'll be traveling to Rome for the 2026 Games and Literary Theory Conference! I'll present a taxonomy of five strategies with which games have presented ancient literature, from clicking through translations in visual novels to materializing texts in a historical space.
It's publication day for Writing Game Histories!! 🥳🎉 Please do recommend it for your library, but it's also out in paperback so not as hideously expensive as academic books can be: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/writing-g... @doktornick.bsky.social @doni.bsky.social @historygamesnet.bsky.social
A very special day today: the physical copies of my book arrived! It felt great to finally hold it in my hands for the very first time ⚡
Very excited to announce that my new postdoc project, "Who Plays Mythology? Player (Counter-)Hegemonies of Greek Mythology in Video Games" (in collaboration with Marco Caracciolo and Steven Malliet), has just been accepted for funding by @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social! 🎮 🎉
Congratulations to @alexvandewalle.bsky.social who's 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 released from @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social this past week. More details in this week's Newsletter ☝️ #Gaming #Booksky
#ScreenshotSaturday Before Games of Thrones, before Lord of the Rings, before even Geoffrey of Monmouth compiled the legends of King Arthur - before all of these came the Mabinogion. Discover the magical stories of this ancient book in Tales from the Mabinogion.
The hardback version of Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games (in @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social's IMAGINES series) is out today! 🎉 Visit www.bloomsbury.com/uk/character... for more information on everything myth, games, & more!
Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games
The first book-length study on mythology reception in video games, this monograph examines how video games characterize mythological characters from the perspec…
bloomsbury.com
Alexander Vandewalle@alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe 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...
Looking forward to traveling to Granada next week to present my paper on @supergiantgames.bsky.social's Hades II at the Ancient World on Screen Conference, celebrating 50+ years of classics and film reception!
It's Star Wars Day and there is a special event on the horizon for the franchise's 50th anniversary next year. Durham University is hosting a special conference in 2027 reflecting on the legacy of the iconic series. The CFP is below. starwarsat50.webspace.durham.ac.uk
Call for Papers - Star Wars at 50: Forces, Forms, Legacies
A one-day scholarly conference at Durham University scheduled for May 7th 2027.
starwarsat50.webspace.durham.ac.uk