memory

There is a character in Spiritfarer called the Collector, a well-dressed, finicky walrus who goes by the name of Susan. When the player first meets Susan, she describes her distaste for the collection of “junk.” Nonetheless, Susan is the in-game collections achievement tracker, and will reward the player for findingContinue Reading

Since its founding in 2010, Play the Past has had the good fortune of hosting many enriching and far-ranging discussions on the intersection of history, cultural heritage, and games. In celebration of our 10th anniversary, we published this last November a brief account of the origins of Play the Past.Continue Reading

Staring bewlidered at the images Notre Dame de Paris in flames, I was struck with how numb I’d become to news of the terrible. Numb. Incapable of knowing what I felt. The world’s news cameras had turned on the sad spectacle of France’s most famous cathedral overcome with churning flamesContinue Reading

Old-Timey Castlevania

Public Memory is a concept that is intertwined with history in many different ways, so it’s no surprise that memory is a theme that has come up over and over again here on Play the Past.   Memory and videogame intersect in a number of different ways, from prompting us toContinue Reading

  Oxenfree is not a game you’d immediately associate with history. The adventure game, released on various platforms in the first half of 2016, follows five teenagers as they visit an island for a party but soon become involved with a supernatural presence. Without giving too much away, the groupContinue Reading

I know. I know. Everyone is writing about how Pokemon Go connects to whatever they work on. But here we are. Given how Pokemon Go has kicked up controversy around how it uses public sites of memory and conscience, without in any way considering if it is appropriate to doContinue Reading

Retrogaming is a culture of playing old games or creating new games in the style of old games, artificially restraining game aesthetics to mimic the very real technological restraints that made the historical games’ the way they are, akin to applying a filter to a digital photograph to make itContinue Reading