Press Start is an open access, peer-reviewed student journal that publishes the best undergraduate and (post)graduate research from across the multidisciplinary subject of game studies. The Editorial Board and reviewers are comprised of students and recent graduates. If you are an undergraduate or (post)graduate student (or a recent graduate) with an academic interest in video games and would like to find out more about publishing your work in Press Start (or are interested in becoming a reviewer or member of our Editorial Board), please take a look at our focus and scope, our information for authors, and our information for reviewers. Authors should also read our guide about the affective challenges of academic publishing to familiarise themselves with the journal's expectations. All articles must be submitted through our website's submission portal. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Copyright for papers and articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the University of Glasgow. It is a condition of publication that authors license their paper or article under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.
Editorial for the July 2025 issue.
Copyright (c) 2025 Samuel Poirier-Poulin, Juan Escobar-Lamana, David ten Cate, Rory Manning Graham, Alex Habgood, Hyerin Shin, Chelsea Russell, Matt Horrigan, Meg Ritchie, Andrew Fleshman, Cassandra Barkman, Charlotte Courtois http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Review: Posthuman Gaming: Avatars, Gamers, and Entangled Subjectivities
Review: Posthuman Gaming: Avatars, Gamers, and Entangled Subjectivities, by Poppy Wilde. 2023. Routledge. 232 pp.
Copyright (c) 2025 Chelsea Russell http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Can Ordinary Horror Games Reduce Avoidant and Safety Behaviours in Players with Anxiety Disorders?
Since 2010, several studies have highlighted the ability of therapeutic video games to reduce avoidant and safety behaviours in individuals with anxiety disorders (ADs). However, there has been little exploration into whether horror games can have similar effects on these behaviours without incorporating explicit therapeutic design strategies. This paper provides an exploratory heuristic analysis of Carbon Steel (Klubnika, 2022), an indie puzzle horror game, to investigate its potential impact on reducing avoidant and safety behaviours in players with ADs. Carbon Steel evokes fear and tension, elements that are typically seen as counterproductive in anxiety management, yet it may offer players controlled exposure to fear-inducing events, which are central to therapeutic techniques like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), attention bias modification (ABM), and exposure training. The analysis explores how Carbon Steel, though not designed as a therapeutic tool, might indirectly provide benefits for players with anxiety disorders. This paper advocates for further research into how ordinary horror games could be adapted to serve as supplementary tools for more accessible and engaging mental health interventions, offering diverse approaches to anxiety management and prevention.
Copyright (c) 2025 Lara Ann Wood http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
“The Playful Postcolonial: Culturing Videogames in India” Special Issue Editorial
Copyright (c) 2024 Zahra Rizvi, Souvik Kar http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Indian scholars and boardgames museum curators Souvik Mukherjee and Amrita Sen speak with Zahra Rizvi and Souvik Kar about the Gautam Sen Memorial Boardgames Museum. This interview delves into the conception, creation, and curation of the museum, before launching into a deeper discussion pertaining to the geopolitical dimensions of studying and curating boardgames in India. Mukherjee and Sen shed light on the past, present, and future of boardgames and play in India and the Global South.
Review: The Stuff Games Are Made Of, by Pippin Barr. 2023. MIT Press. 184 pp.
Copyright (c) 2025 Luke Thomley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Review: The Privilege of Play: A History of Hobby Games, Race, and Geek Culture
Review: The Privilege of Play: A History of Hobby Games, Race, and Geek Culture, by Aaron Trammell. 2023. New York University Press. xiii + 221 pp.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mark Hines http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Review: Bioware’s Mass Effect, by Jerome Winter. 2022. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. v + 96 pp.
Copyright (c) 2025 Tony Payment http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Review: Przygody cyfrowego tułacza. Interpretacje groznawcze
Review: Przygody cyfrowego tułacza. Interpretacje groznawcze, by Michał Kłosiński. 2023. University of Silesia Press. 295 pp.
Copyright (c) 2025 Kacper Karwacki http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
From Walking Simulator to Reflective Simulator
The aim of this paper is to contribute both theoretically and methodologically to discussions on walking simulator video games. We base our reflection on results grounded in a video game design project conducted as part of our master's thesis. Our research perspective is rooted in pragmatist and constructivist theories of design, such as the epistemology of practice (Schön, 1983; 1992) and project-grounded research (Findeli, 2005). To define the player's experience, we relied on John Dewey's (1934) concept of aesthetic experience. In this context, an individual's experience is characterised as reflective, i.e., meaningful, introspective, creative, and situated. Our project consisted in designing a tailored reflective experience for a unique player—the designer's younger sister. This involved creating a playable prototype featuring gameplay characteristics that game theorists and critics might consider elements of a walking simulator. We describe how the player had a reflective experience both during her interaction with the game and thereafter. Adopting a reflective approach allowed us to better describe and appreciate the life-changing potential of simulators and to ultimately shed light on their capabilities, rather than concentrate on their limitations (Clarke, 2017). We therefore propose a new label, namely, “reflective simulator,” as a way to contribute to theoretical discussions about walking simulators. This case study provides a methodological contribution to thefield of game studies by describing and reflecting upon the theoretical anchors underpinning game design
Game design; player experience, reflective practice, walking simulator, game studies, design theory
Copyright (c) 2019 Alexandra Ferland-Beauchemin, Dave Hawey, Jocelyn Benoit
Since the 1980s, creative job seekers have turned to nontraditional and interactive resume formats to help set themselves apart from other candidates. The “game resume” is one such example that continues to garner praise eleven years after the first publicly available example by graphic designer Robby Leonardi. This study investigates: a) the history of nontraditional and interactive resumes leading up to resumes that are playable; b) a do-it-yourself (DIY) game development culture setting the conditions for short, personal games; and c) the characteristics of an ever-expanding game resume collection on the itch.io games sharing platform. Thirty-three game resumes were isolated and manually reviewed against a comprehensive playtesting protocol, examining key design choices and features. A qualitative analysis of findings was conducted, leading to a more complete understanding of this online phenomenon, and beginning the process of characterizing and solidifying it as an emerging practice. We may reasonably conclude that: a) game resumes are almost always created by game designers, developers, and adjacent creative personalities seeking employment in the games industry; b) common game conventions such as scoring, power-ups, health bars, and inventory systems are intentionally kept light or even omitted altogether; and c) game resumes are designed to be short (less than five minutes of gameplay) and easy (player immortality) to enable an uninterrupted single playthrough.
Review: L’esperienza del videogioco. Una ricognizione estetica del videogioco tra senso, arte e cultura
Review: L’esperienza del videogioco. Una ricognizione estetica del videogioco tra senso, arte e cultura, by Manuel Maximilian Riolo. 2020. Eurolink University Press. 282 pp.
Copyright (c) 2024 Pierre Gabriel Dumoulin
Given that the fundamental element of Minecraft (Mojang Studios, 2011) is appreciably large, what its players discover is a sandbox-style game in which the ubiquitous block, Minecraft’s atom, stands for an unparalleled degree of immediacy. Alongside the seemingly counteractive effort of modding communities to overhaul a videogame with higher-resolution textures and examples drawn from a range of other media, this article reinterprets Minecraft’s functionally retrograde look as symptomatic of nostalgia for a mechanically direct conception of reality and what Henri Lefebvre (1974/1991) theorized as any space’s continuous “production.” Compared with the endless regression of nature—and, consequently, its decreasing comprehensibility—implicit in a materialist worldview, the geo- and biological stratigraphy of a Minecraft environment may be thought ontically homogeneous, insofar as a house and mountain will vary principally in their number of 16 px3 blocks. These issues are motivated toward a consideration of the artificial shortcomings of digital games generally, or their “fictional incompleteness,” and the paradoxes that arise from the suggestion of visual depth. After introducing what I describe as the translation from life, or “itemization,” of those objects, settings, and events that form the content of digital games, a final discussion of the miniature allows me to revisit Minecraft’s appeal at the phenomenological level. In turn, the clean manageability of ludic artifacts is understood as a desire for control in increasingly opaque daily life.
Enrolment in geology-related courses has declined over the last few decades, in part due to a lack of understanding of the subject and its relevance to contemporary society. Although a popular medium for entertainment, video games also hold significant pedagogical potential to overcome this problem by immersing players in geology-related topics through the portrayal of a broad range of geological disciplines in the medium’s dynamic environments. This paper focuses on volcanology as portrayed in Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda series’ (1986-present) Death Mountain, a recurring volcanic peak in the franchise. Volcanic features in each game are documented and compared to real-world examples to determine the accuracy of how the volcanism evolves over time across instalments in the series. I argue that the volcanic history of Death Mountain provides a reasonably realistic evolution, beginning with volcanic hazards like rockfalls and lava from an active stratovolcano, and progressing over time to introduce hydrothermal systems. Then, during divergent timelines, Death Mountain’s volcanism shifts to either explosive, shallow-water eruptions or to showing evidence of massive explosive activity. Through this, I argue that the popularity of The Legend of Zelda series and the gradual introduction of volcanic features can be used together to change the perception of geology as “boring” and encourage people to study the subject by offering a fun and immersive means to engage with its content.
Review: Une histoire du jeu vidéo en France, 1960-1991 : des labos aux chambres d’ados
Review: Une histoire du jeu vidéo en France, 1960-1991 : des labos aux chambres d’ados, by Alexis Blanchet and Guillaume Montagnon. 2020. Pix’n Love. 447 pp.
In tackling chronophobia, which Svetlana Boym (2001) defines as the anxiety of deciding how to use our time meaningfully as it depletes, video games become purposeful spaces where we can revisit the things we have lost, or what we anticipate will be lost with time. As such, video games are ideal tools that help us retreat from chronophobia. However, following Boym, I argue that this “does not help us to deal with the future” (2001, p. 351). To revisit or experience what is already “lost” with time through games, players must lose more time and resources in the present to pursue it. This circular use of nostalgia may leave players with chronophobia and in a state of feeling “lost again.” This paper presents three case studies where nostalgic players have “found” something generative for their present and future, rather than feeling “lost again.” This original solution to chronophobia combines Boym’s work, game studies, and nostalgia research, amounting to my contribution of what I call “refractive nostalgia.”
Review: Who Are You? Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance Platform
Review: Who Are You? Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance Platform, by Alex Custodio. 2020. MIT Press. ix + 270 pp.
Copyright (c) 2024 Edcel Javier Cintron-Gonzalez
Defining Art Styles in Games and Their Influence on Creative Expression
This article explores and highlights the differences between art styles in video games, and details how the use of them can allow for the expression of creative ideas and communicate messages through games as a medium. This article also investigates existing research and analyses various case studies of games with distinctive art styles. The term “art style” in the context of this article pertains to visual elements such as proportions and shading techniques, as opposed to encompassing sound design or animation. To effectively showcase the influence of art styles on creative expression, I have developed a practical prototype in the form of an art game titled The Maze of Nightmares, which contains features such as the ability to switch between multiple art styles as a creative tool to overcome obstacles. By doing so, the game addresses the topic of significant personal changes and how impactful they can be towards one’s life, especially in the context of overcoming obstacles and solving problems. This way, players and audiences can observe differences between art styles in the context of an experience that reinforces the benefits of change.
Since 2004, the tabletop board game market has seen a surge in solo compatibility. COVID-19 restricted multiplayer board gaming, attracting new players to the world of solo play. Despite that, games research has somewhat overlooked explanations as to why solo board gaming is a growing phenomenon. This paper takes a multidisciplinary approach, considering scoresheets, gaming capital, and chores, to examine whether sociality exists in solo board games. The importance of sociality in solo board games is also brought into question, highlighting benefits and flaws of group presence, including negative effects of social influence. Motivations of solo players are explored through a questionnaire and session report, presenting three themes: social reasons, genre preferences, and playstyle choices. Conclusions drawn provide practical applications for tabletop designers, outlining how they can more effectively approach the design of solo games or solo variants.
Review: Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality
Review: Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality, by Melanie Swalwell. 2021. The MIT Press. xvi + 256 pp.
This research delves into the narrative of the role-playing game OMORI (OMOCAT, 2020). We use Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory as an analytical framework to investigate character portrayal and development. Our study employed descriptive and interpretive qualitative methods and used a three-phased approach to scrutinise OMORI’s narrative, expound and dissect character portrayals within their broader contexts, and note important character developments throughout the game. Our findings highlight the substantial influence of immediate and non-immediate external environments—family dynamics, societal norms, and cultural elements—on the development of the primary characters within OMORI’s narrative. More specifically, this paper emphasises the roles of culture, capitalism, and religion within the game. The study’s significance lies in its presentation of interconnected relationships among the systems posited by Bronfenbrenner. We offer insights for further research studying games through their socio-historical contexts and scrutinising characters’ backstories. This is particularly relevant where it has been theorised that youth in advanced capitalist societies might be swayed by cultural values that affect their well-being and life contentment (Butler, 2021).
Copyright (c) 2024 Ronnel Bermas, Jenelle Capati, Francis Calubayan
Editorial for the May 2024 issue.
Copyright (c) 2024 Samuel Poirier-Poulin, Cassandra Barkman, Andrew Fleshman, Meg Ritchie, Matt Horrigan, Charlotte Courtois, Olivia Shepard, Francis Butterworth-Parr, Sebastián Gómez, Rowan Daneels, Katarína Bodišová, Kellynn Wee Jiaying, Chelsea Russell
This article examines how posthumanism operates through the player-avatar relationship in NieR: Automata (Platinum Games, 2017). NieR: Automata takes place on a 120th century Earth and sees the player control three android soldiers who fight to retake the planet from an enigmatic force of alien machines on behalf of humanity. However, no humans appear in the game itself. As the war drags on in their absence, androids and machines alike struggle to construct new subjectivities from the fragments of human existence, with each attempt to mimic humanity or deify it ending in violent catastrophes. Through narrative mechanics that build affinity between the player and their avatars, NieR: Automata encourages the player to enact a posthuman subjectivity that allows the androids to face the full—and ultimately hopeful—truth of a post-anthropocentric world.
Copyright (c) 2025 Joel White http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Riot Games’ Content Marketing Approach for VALORANT Champions 2022
VALORANT is a competitive first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and released by Riot Games in 2020. The game has celebrated high player involvement in the competitive gaming scene wherein, only two years after the game’s release, the grand finals of the culminating event of 2022, VALORANT Champions 2022, peaked at 1.5 million viewers (Esports Charts, 2022a). Building on firsthand observation of following VALORANT Champions 2022 as it took place, this paper explores Riot Games’ content marketing approach for VALORANT Champions 2022, its impact on player engagement, and compares it with other esports marketing strategies. I analyze the main mediums of content distribution for the VALORANT Champions 2022 event (social media, website, and in-game content) and compare them against the content marketing sector using the latest developments in esports, with reference to competing game developers and esports organizations. I argue that Riot Games focuses on inclusivity of the global market, involving diverse types of players and regions, and their design/marketing choices create immersive experiences that incentivize players to be a part of the event in one form or another. The results suggest that other games with an esports scene could implement and expand content marketing, creating more themed experiences, similar to how Riot Games does with anthems, in-game content, and more, to grow and maintain interest in their competitive events.
Copyright (c) 2025 Edward Strazd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Through a holistic analysis of the games by Studio Oleomingus, the paper will explore the concept of ‘Fleshthetics’, examining how the postcolonial body/Flesh is a palimpsest and collage of both lived experience(s) and intergenerational phantom histories. The games we have chosen are The Uncertain Repetitions of Truth, A Museum of Dubious Splendors, In the Pause Between the Ringing, The Indifferent Wonder of an Edible Place, and Folds of a Separation. The Flesh is not simply rooted in materiality, but is a symptom of a condition, an assemblage (of identities), an absent-present body. In Studio Oleomingus’s games, the postcolonial body/Flesh is, thereby, inherently Plastic. Influenced by discourses enveloping it, the Flesh manifests itself and its Plasticity in a non-linear spatiotemporality. By playing and analysing the games, this paper shows how the blended style of play accentuates the fragmented existence of the postcolonial Flesh. As such, this paper forms only an introduction into the larger domain of Fleshthetics, unearthing untapped potential that can be harvested through further work beyond the simple constraints of media, genre and academic discipline.
Copyright (c) 2024 Soham Adhikari, Aritro Bhattacharya http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Nostalgia is a common experience, with videogames providing a strong potential trigger for nostalgic feelings towards the playing of games or memories about games. Nostalgia has positive effects on creativity, inspiration, exploration, social connectedness, and a sense of self-continuity. These elements find a natural home in the creative industries and have led to the creation of a multitude of nostalgic products. This study investigates nostalgia’s influential role in videogame development, analysing how nostalgia-driven decisions made by developers are interpreted by players who share a nostalgic object. This paper examines three case study games based on three lenses: Remind, Repeat, and Revive. These categories and cases demonstrate practical development insight into core design decisions and player reception. For developers, these findings could lead to the accurate representation and sensitive implementation of nostalgic objects in games. Players could enhance their enjoyment of games by learning to identify where idealised recollections diverge from the subjective and objective reality of their nostalgic object.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ember Martin http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Review: Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations
Review: Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations, by Souvik Mukherjee. 2022. Bloomsbury. 256 pp.
Copyright (c) 2024 Samya Brata Roy http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper outlines the development process of Tattva Bhoomi, a game-based learning application developed by the authors and designed to teach chemistry concepts to middle school students in India. The paper begins with an overview of the design considerations that guided the game’s development. Additionally, the paper elaborates on the iterative creation of prototypes at different phases and how gradual improvements were integrated. After providing a walkthrough of the entire gameplay, Tattva Bhoomi’s potential is assessed using the criteria established by Solanki and Mathew (2021) for the efficient development of educational and multimedia games.
Copyright (c) 2024 Chaitanya Solanki, Deepak John Mathew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Review: Perspectives on the European Videogame
Review: Perspectives on the European Videogame, edited by Victor Navarro-Remesal and Óliver Pérez-Latorre. 2021. Amsterdam University Press. 236 pp.
This article investigates the opportunities for queer play in Yume Nikki (KIKIYAMA, 2004) by examining the spatial and temporal dimensions of the game’s “Dream World” alongside its narrative. Using surreal visuals and counterintuitive layouts, Yume Nikki’s game maps evoke queer experiences of space, movement, and wandering. In addition, the game encourages wandering through the absence of temporally ordered events and the game’s general lack of interest in timekeeping. The game’s construction promotes a play style that highlights aspects of queer experiences including disorientation and failure. The player’s aimless roaming through time and space are not a failure to master the game, but another way Yume Nikki celebrates queerness and rejects the values of mainstream success, fun, and play.