The Game Studies Watchlist newsletter, curated by Prof. Dr Rudolf Inderst, is published weekly on GamesMarkt. This week's topics include a close reading of Death Stranding, the intersection between Memory Studies and Game Studies, and how games can be arenas of political conflict.
If someone tells you "I want to tell you about Death Stranding", you do not say, sorry, but I have to do something better. Especially not, it this someone is Monty Zander! So let's all get together and listen to his story.
This video essay blends a father's letter to his one-year-old son with a granular close reading of Death Stranding, framing Hideo Kojima's polarizing "walking simulator" as a profound meditation on failure, connection, and human interdependence amid catastrophe. Through meticulous breakdowns of gameplay systems, from BT encounters and void-outs to timefall mechanics and the game's signature "cogisms" (over-explained lore, on-the-nose names like "Die-Hardman," absurd product placements), the essayist reveals how Kojima's design turns friction, isolation, and logistical tedium into philosophical tools, recasting ludonarrative dissonance as deliberate humanist parable. For Game Studies scholars, it's a standout example of long-form video essay as performative analysis: weaving Huizinga's Homo ludens, unreliable narrators, and motifs like rope vs. stick into an autobiographical frame that models the game's ethics of care. Equal parts optimistic apocalypse tale and parenting manifesto, it argues Death Stranding's surreal optimism, rainbow heralds of doom, glitchy bridge babies, teaches resilience through play, making it essential viewing for anyone tracing contemporary ludodystopias or Kojima's auteurist imprint on blockbuster game design.
The planned edited volume Video Game and Memory invites contributions exploring the intersections of Memory Studies and Game Studies. The collection focuses on how video games represent, shape, and mediate memory, addressing themes such as nostalgia, trauma, collective memory, game narratives, design practices, and player experience. Scholars are invited to analyze specific games, genres, platforms, or gaming cultures through theoretical perspectives from both fields. Abstracts (400–500 words plus short bio) are due 12 April 2026.
In the German-language contribution “Gender, Games und #Gamergate: Digitale Spiele als Diskursarenen politischer Auseinandersetzungen”, Arno Görgen examines how debates around gender representation and the controversy of #Gamergate reveal digital games as arenas of political conflict. The article situates these debates within broader theories of “the political,” showing how struggles over representation, journalism, and gaming culture reflect wider societal tensions.
A recent article from Boston University asks a familiar question: Are video games bad for you? Drawing on a new study published in Frontiers in Communication, the piece suggests the answer is more nuanced. Surveying nearly 350 students, researchers found many players use games as a way to cope with stress, regulate emotions, and build resilience, highlighting that the psychological impact of gaming depends less on gaming itself than on what people play and why.
I talked to two wonderful game researchers on my podcast Game Studies (proud part of New Books Network): Carlin Wing on her book Bounce Balls, Walls, and Bodies in Games and Play (published by MIT Press) and Kaitlin Tremblay on her book Life is Strange (published by Boss Fight Books). Please tune in and don't be too shy to share these two conversation gems!
In his article “A Seeming Change: Quasimorph and the Critique of Anarcho-Capitalism”, recently published in the journal Games and Culture, game researcher James Cartlidge examines how the roguelike extraction shooter Quasimorph models and critiques anarcho-capitalist ideology through its narrative, worldbuilding, and procedural systems. Drawing on debates in political philosophy and game studies, the analysis argues that the game portrays anarcho-capitalism as a “quasi-morph”: a supposed systemic break that in fact intensifies capitalism’s coercive and monopolistic tendencies. The article highlights how games can function as ideological laboratories where political systems are simulated, experienced, and critically examined through play.
... in March 2006, Final Fantasy XII was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2. Square Enix’s ambitious RPG introduced a more open world structure and the Gambit combat system. For many players and scholars alike, this moment marks a kind of “birth era” for modern JRPG experimentation, it's really hard to believe that this influential title is now nearly two decades old.
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Cheers and stay healthy, Rudolf
