„Our paths will become roads”: Ecological reflections on Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of environmental game studies, which the author defines as an analysis of the involvement of video games in environmental discourses. In order to formulate a definition of an eco-game, the author uses Lawrence Buell’s environmental text theory and Alenda Y. Chang’s postulates from the manifesto of environmentally conscious game design, as well as references to works in the field of post-humanistic philosophy. He also invokes concepts derived from gaming studies to describe the ecological contexts of the medium of video games. In the second part of the work, environmental game theory is used to analyse an example of an eco-game. The author chose the AAA production Death Stranding created by the Japanese designer Hideo Kojima. Looking at its unconventional depiction of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the biopolitics regulating the life of the protagonist and the gameplay based on unhurried exploration of space, the author outlines potential further directions for the development of research in the field of environmental game studies.