You know the great thing about the internet? Besides the fact I can download SpiderMan: Miles Morales and spend the whole week playing that instead of writing this on time? Er, I mean, the great thing about the internet is that it’s full of fantastic coverage of games, the climate crisis, green issues, and stories that elegantly combine all three. This week we’ve decided to highlight a few recent articles, Twitter feeds, and eco-friendly-misery-geese that we think are well worth your time. Enjoy! 

1. Horrible Goose Comes in Great Package

Untitled Goose Game was one of the best games about being an awful bird in years, letting you live the dream of being a real jerk chicken. Yes, I’m somewhat aware that geese aren’t chickens, but I can’t think of a better joke so here we are. Last year the game got a physical release. Physical game boxes, with their heavy reliance on plastic, are unsurprisingly dreadful for the environment (here’s an excellent Eurogamer piece about the game industry’s overreliance on plastic). But delightfully, Untitled Goose Game’s physical Lovely Edition PS4 release honked obnoxiously at that depressing trend by coming in 100% environmentally friendly packaging!

Loads of game sites covered this story and featured great interviews with iam8bit, the company responsible for this release (you can read Arstechinca’s here). My personal favorite is this one on packaging-gateway.com, simply because I was so delighted to discover that there’s a website dedicated entirely to packaging (they do some good un-goose-related pieces about packaging and the environment too).

In all their interviews, Amanda White and Jon Gibson of iam8bit are terrific at telling the story of how they made an eco-friendly physical release. They’re also super inspiring about how they hope this is just the beginning of a wider trend in the games industry. They tell packaging-gateway.com: “Everyone cares about the health of the planet, but unless a choice to be more environmentally responsible is very clearly laid out, it’s really difficult to find your own path. We think fans have been enthusiastic because we’re being really transparent about our approach and our wanting to make a difference. There isn’t a barrier to entry if you want to sample a healthier path for packaging. It’s a tiny glimpse into the crystal ball of the future so, with the support of fans, we can start to change the overall conversation and convert lots of publishers over to more eco-friendly pursuits.”

Hear hear! Or should that be, honk honk? I’m starting to think I should never be allowed to write about geese again. Go read the whole piece here. Honk!

2. Go Grow Plant Based Gaming’s Followers!

Games don’t grow on trees, something I’ve known since I was a child teenager OK fine I learnt this yesterday. But despite not originating from the ground, games can still be heavily plant-based and nature themed. Those games are the focus of this terrific little Twitter account, Plant Based Gaming!

Plant Based Gaming promotes games that focus on nature, conservation & oh wait you just saw all that in the screenshot directly above this paragraph didn’t you. Well anyway, they’re great! A quick scroll through their feed and I’d already found a ton of great new green games I wanted to try, and a few games I already love getting a shoutout (Alba! YASSSSSSSSS!).

This account is an instant follow for me! Or at least it would be, if I was on Twitter. Curse my undying loyalty to MySpace. Anyway, learn from my mistakes and follow @PlantBasedGamin so you can fill your feed with excellent-looking green games.

Do we have time for one more? *checks if Terra Nil has finished downloading* Oh, very well…

3. Man Makes ‘Pandemic’ board game. Decides That Not Depressing Enough?

The New York Times has a good profile on Matt Leacock, the creator of the hit board game Pandemic. Considering what we’ve been through for the last couple of years, you’d think the creator of a game called Pandemic might follow that up with something like Super Just Hang Out With Some Kittens For a While Adventure. But Leacock is made of sterner stuff, and is working on a game called Climate Crisis. Spoiler alert: it’s not about kittens.

Here at Climate Replay, we’re more about the virtual games than the mysterious board-based ones that confuse and frighten us. But Leacock’s ambitions to make a game that is scientifically accurate, doesn’t undermine the realities of the climate crisis, but is also still fun to play, is a fascinating dilemma, one we’re hoping more game developers tackle head-on as enthusiastically as he has. Find out what several climate experts thought of his game when they playtested it.

Have you seen a good story that we should shout about? Tell us about it on the Climate Replay Discord server – then stick around and hang out with us after! HONK.