ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a set of recent video games that feature nonhuman protagonists living in toxic, environmentally damaged worlds, and who must mutate to survive. Drawing from a long genealogy of science fiction narratives, games such as Maneater (Blindside Interactive/Trip-wire Interactive 2020), Evolve (Turtle Rock Studios 2015), and Biomutant (Experiment 101 2021) turn mutagenesis into a gameplay mechanism and represent neo-Lamarckian evolutionary processes as models or metaphors for responsible environmental governance.
