No Man's Sky
Feature

The apocalyptic fandom of No Man’s Sky

According to American evangelist Harold Camping, the Rapture was supposed to have occurred on May 21, 2011—the date was moved back five months to October when nothing happened. Apocalyptic preacher Ronald Weinland predicted that the world would end on September 30, 2008. This date was also revised to May 27, 2012, and then May 19, 2013. In a similar vein, No Man’s Sky was supposed to have been released on June 21, 2016—that particular rapture was pushed back to August 9. Though the fact of fandom is hardly unique to No Man’s Sky, the degree of devotion the game’s fans…

Feature

Have a little more faith in That Dragon, Cancer

The most interesting part of the discussion surrounding this year’s That Dragon, Cancer is the reaction on the part of its audience to its religious element. The Telegraph’s review, for example, expressed puzzlement at the faith itself, but not at faith as a coping mechanism. Kill Screen’s own review discussed the way in which elements of that belief were incomprehensible to those who do not buy into the essential premise. A common theme in these reviews is that grief is eminently relatable; while faith, or at least the specific permutation found in the game, is considered potentially alienating. These same…

News

You can only play this upcoming iOS game if you believe in it

When Jamaican artist Robert Morrison Jnr. talks about waiting he is really talking about faith. It’s not necessarily a religious practice that he refers to either, more of a universal concept, a feature of the human condition. “I think our faith is constantly tested in our daily lives,” Morrison says. “Some tests being more apparent than others; some tests being more easily overcome than others.” faith manifests in the game as an absence  He’s musing on the value of faith to justify it as a game mechanic. For in his upcoming iOS experiment Substance of Things, all that you’ll be able…