Possibilités et limites des jeux vidéo à thématique écologique : Analyse et étude de réception d’Abzû

Abstract

Increasingly popular in the gaming culture, video games with an ecological theme seem to hold the potential to raise players’ awareness about environmental issues. This is the case for the underwater adventure game Abzû, whose ecocritical potential is highlighted in this article by a ludonarrative analysis, despite its valorisation of technosolutionism. Based on 2421 comments published on 14 platforms, however, a reception study of the game shows that its environmental message only captures the attention of a minority of players who nevertheless draw important lessons from it and post them on online forums to encourage their peer to do the same.

Keywords

• video game
• environment
• ecocriticism
• reception
• awareness
• forum