The Beauty of Games With Dead Worlds 

I love games that feature dead worlds, there is a sort of melancholy and haunting atmosphere around them like you're a ghost in a world that has long since passed with remnants of life and society or was never alive to begin with which can be even more chilling

Shadow of the Colossus is one of the best examples of a dead world. Traveling between battles gave me a feeling of anxiety and dread. When I killed a colossus, it didn’t feel like I should celebrate, because I didn’t feel like it was a good thing that I was doing. Such a good game.

The beauty of being in a near barren world is the idea of how small you are and the mystery of how the world became like how it is portrayed

Curious Archive never disappoints

"These worlds have died, and the world lives on" this is so beautiful.

Rain World fits this theme. The game takes place in the ruins of can ancient civilization and it decays throughout the story.

"Acceptance isn't about feeling happy forever; it just means an acknowledgement of a loss." I wish someone could have told me that at some point in the earlier parts of my life.

Journey and it's successor Sky: Children of the Light are both great examples of games that also have gorgeous dead worlds! Granted, Sky's world does not necessarily feel as dead as Journey but lore wise in its world it is

I wasn’t expecting Hollow Knight to be mentioned in a Curious Archive video, but I’m completely here for it

Journey is also such a game, there's something so evocative about exploring loss and moving on

Both nier replicant and automata have beautiful and haunting dead worlds witch show different civilisations who have lived and died in it making it quite unique. And not to mention the beautiful music that just perfects the overall vibe

Something tells me that the lost civilizations in ABZU know that the ocean world and it's suffocating amount of life would swallow their history in an instant. It doesn't seem like this saddened them either, they almost revere it, putting the marine life literally above the humans in their surviving art, its really comforting and I see life the same way, I have no issue being forgotten as long as I do right by the world and use my time wisely, really appreciating the fact I can comprehend the world around me, its a real gift we have as humanity.

I don't know if this counts as a Dead World, but I remember when I was a kid and I played Kirby 64 so religiously pretty much, there was one world that I always remembered the most. Shiver Star. The first level of the world is like a winter wonderland with Christmasy music. It's cutesy and fun. Then there is a bubbly cloudy level with some classic Kirby music remixed. It's like a typical Kirby level. Then, there's this abandoned mall. It's still cutesy and it's playing the same music as the first level said. Almost kind of gives you this Christmas shopping vibe. Though there is no one shopping. It just has your typical Kirby monsters that are inhabiting it. But then there is the last level before the boss. It's a factory. And at first the factory kind of looks like maybe a Santa's workshop sort of area. But you enter it and there's all these robots still maintaining the factory. The music itself is completely different from the rest of the levels. Instead of something that sounds peppy or happy, It's industrial, depressing, and it almost sounds like it's telling a story but in music form. Is something off about it. Then there's the boss itself. A giant robot that's almost protecting a city. The city is still lit up and it almost gives me 1990s Gotham vibes. But you don't know if there's still people living there or if it's all being maintained by the same robots that run the factory. And then if you look at the planet Shiver Star itself, You realize that it's actually earth but frozen over. Even the level select music sounds a little bit off. It kind of raises more questions about this world. This very thing is kind of what got me not only into video game music, but also into the idea of post-apocalyptic worlds in video games. Shadow of the Colossus is definitely one of my favorite video games. And the whole world kind of reminds me of Shiver Star in the sense that the first you don't really think about it because it's a fantasy adventure game. But the more you let the atmosphere sink in, the more you question.

This... Has to be one of the best videos youve done so far. The way you explain and narrate is beautiful.

Gris is one of those games that touch you in ways you didn't expect, so glad to see it talked about on this channel.

When I saw the title of this video I immediately thought, “Someone else gets it.” I’m a writer and have often described what I like to write most as post-post apocalypse, stories that take place after the survivors have survived and the life of the generations that follow. Apocalypses have their place in stories, but as you said, they are often so loud and boisterous. I think that apocalypses are best understood and reflected on in their aftermath, rather than in the moment. We better see the footprints of what was, and we can see what truly lives and lingers when everything else has ended. Fantastic video.

"There Will Come Soft Rains" was one of my favorite short stories as a kid (still is one of my favorite short stories) and it put into words the feeling of something that forms around an absence. Delighted to see it show up here!

Senua's Sacrifice comes to mind with these themes. even though you know that you're in a small slice of civilization, and that the world isn't dead, roaming around that abandoned landscape with the head of your lover in a bag on her hip, while the voices in your head are taunting you...boy that was so good. also, scorn was a masterclass in this, which i know you've spoken about in detail. great videos.

As someone who is obsessed with games made by From Software, I gotta mention the absolute beauty of playing Dark Souls 3 after you've finished the first game. There are so many little environmental details that makes the players nostalgic and sometimes even sad about how the passage of time has effected the world.

I wont lie, dying and ruined worlds are more realistic and,honestly, more fun to write and create compared to worlds in which everybody is happy and everything is fine

I lost my mom recently and needless to say this video was all the more poignant because of that. The process of grieving is long and fraught but life goes on and beauty persists, even in pain. This was a lovely video, thank you

GRIS and Curious Archives is the greatest combination I could ever hope to imagine! I love this take on GRIS, I've already watched basically every analysis of it. It's my favourite game, and this is a really unique view of it. I've always loved games with dead worlds, and the quiet, desolate beauty of them. Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, Rain World, GRIS, Subnautica, there's something about them that brings about an emotion I can't quite describe. Plus they have cool wordbuilding. Also, you have absolutely sold me on Abzu. I've been considering getting it for a while, and I absolutely will as soon as i can now.

we need a shadow of the colossus special edition that brings back the original extra colossi that didn't make it to the final cut. there was apparently supposed to be 24 of them

I feel like the mobile games Monument Valley 1 & 2 also fit the description of a dead world. In both games you wander through and do puzzles in the remnants of a civilization long gone and the only things left alive are the crow people, the totems (basically living totempoles) and you.

For a strange coincidence We studied today one of the first "distopical story" written by Leopardi in 1820's: it was a dialogue between a gnome and a fairy about how all human suddenly disappeared and about our egocentrism to think that the world was made for us but in reality now that we are gone nothing has change, sun still rise days pass by even whitout anyone to count them, every species thinks to be the most important, but we like dinosaurs and others disappeared whitout anyone care...

What a beautiful video, maybe your best yet. The examination of dead worlds as thematic for grief, acceptance, and change is a very illuminating thing, and all of these worlds are stunning to observe. The comparison to whale falls nearly made me weep, and I was genuinely overcome at the mention of Sable’s whale. What a beautiful connection. Fantastic work here, as always

Hey, maybe you'd like to look into the video game 'Cocoon'? It's a game where you're this beetle character that explores, solves puzzles and defeats bosses with the gimmick being that you are exploring alien worlds within worlds within worlds within worlds. It just seems like the kind of stuff you like to explore with the speculative biology and strange worlds. There are so many fascinating and unique lifeforms in this game, I would really love to hear your thoughts on it.

I absolutely love Gris. It's more of an immersive interactive artwork for me and a masterpiece in that for sure. I would encourage any art lover to try it, even if they have nothing to do with gaming as a medium yet. Makes me very happy that the game becomes a stage at your channel! Thank you.

Thank you so so much for being able to put into words what I never could. You've truly captured what it's like to admire the tragic beauty of the remnants of a bygone world overtaken by a new one. It is the same feeling I feel every time I find a Jungle or Desert Temple in Minecraft, see the cities in the Last of Us or the remains of civilization in Adventure Time. A certain hollowness and melancholy that doesn't fully convey sadness. I realized how greatly these complex emotions could be provoked when I first watched this TedEd video about what happens to the world without humans, coincidentally inspired by the same book mentioned in this video, and until now my descriptions of this particular aesthetic or vibe have escaped me. Whether it be "desolate" or "dystopian", the words never quite fit the particular feeling I wanted to describe whenever I saw these "Dead Worlds", because only now I realize that to die is to have had life, which I am utterly grateful for. You have no idea how much this video means to me, and I hope you keep making videos that do the same for others what they did for me.

loved this video and your introspective on emotions and consequences that follow suit in "dead worlds". really made me feel things

I'm in tears! Thank you for such a beautiful video, wonderfully narrated! I grew up playing videogames trying to convince everybody that games are indeed a form of art. I even contacted Jenova Chen to encourage him early in his career when only Flown and Cloud were released... And I would like to encourage you to keep doing beautiful videos and thougful reflections as this one! 💚

Beautiful :') The way you summarized the storms and charging through to end up angry at the world ... well, if I weren't already so tired of crying, I'd have shed a few more tears just then ...

I always love the dead world Aesthetic mostly the one with no life and the one that life has took over The old world They're always peaceful and calm to me And well yes The one with no life seems grim It's also kind of refreshing that Even though you see ruins of a civilization when no signs of life Plant or animal It can kind of make you think of your life and the future Things might Dark in the moment But when you say the dawn break You know a new world and life have arrived it's time to move on from that dark place Plus they're very pretty looking

This video is amazing! This is a full on movie in it of itself. I feel like i've been on a 3 hour journey and yet its only been 20 minutes. Thank you so much Curious Archive!

bro this is your best video yet, i love, how you spun together so many different interpretations of death and rebirth, and how neatly you tied it all together.

This feels so meta. Your channel is what has helped me with these feelings. Seeing how many forms life can take has given me so much peace despite being a part of a failing species

I really enjoy your style of videos. You should consider doing one on “No Man’s Sky.” There’s a beautiful loneliness to it as you explore uninhabited and largely untouched worlds that no other player has witnessed.

When I saw this, I was liKe "I hope hollow Knight is in this".

Your videos are works of art in their own right, and I love how they have continued to evolve. Well done as always!

I think this has to be my favourite video of yours yet, such beautiful points eloquently delivered and masterfully linked between them all, the weaving of narratives and meanings from the Whale-Fall, to each game and the stages of grief was phenomenal. I feel like this could be a thesis. Truly this was fantastic. Not to mention covering 2 of my favourite games in one video and introducing me to some I am excited to hopefully play.

This is one of my favorite videos of yours. Poignant and beautiful. Also, lots of great games for me to check out. 😊

That was a really nice video with beautiful topic! I've always been fascinated with these types of games and loved all those emotions while playing them. Especially shadow of the colossus, on of my favorite games ever, was always kinda hard to describe (for me at least) because, while playing and not looking to hard into the story, the game was so simple and the world so empty. It was not like the other games you can play where the story throws you from one action event to the other, with plenty other characters to interact with or the goal to do as many quests as possible or something like that. In these games you are mostly on your own. Sometimes there is a companion who is with you for some time but in the end they have to move on in one way or another. Most of the time it's you, these dead lands and your own thoughts and emotions. I can't speak for all on that, but the emotions I feel while playing these games are so much more intense than what I feel while playing a game where I was told to mourn this character or I was told that this or that is important. When playing these games with those dead worlds you have to think for yourself. Maybe you are wondering what happend to these lands, where did it's people go, what is the history of those broken buildings. Experiencing your own thoughts and finding answers to your own questions is just so much more powerful than doing just another quest. Shadow of the colossus brings you this eerie feeling that something is wrong with the land around the temple, and maybe that thing is you. Abzû makes you wonder where you came from and how you are connected to these underwater world, it's many inhabitants and with those people you see the remains of. First you feel disconnected from your surroundings but with time you start to understand and feel much more comfortable. And with Gris you feel sad for that girl, for the world around you and all that is lost. But eventually you see that it's going to be okay and that this isn't actually the end. And I think that's the important thing about those stories, the end isn't actually the end. Even when all is lost, the people are gone and all their monuments are forgotten, life still goes on. It will thrive again and new things will be and new stories will be told, and it will be okay.

Each time you make one of these videos it's a examination of a single game and its main theme but pulling in other games with the same theme. And its beautiful.

I am continually in awe of the consistent thoughtfulness, and insight of your work. The care and sincerity you bring to your analysis of often overlooked games and media is deeply impressive and incredibly valuable. Your work enriches my life and inspires me to think creatively. Thank you!

Nice, a new video! I love your content, keep it up!

This video is so nicely executed! It all fits together so well! If I had more time I would definitely play many of the games you mention in your video’s! Thank you for making me think!

This was easily one of the most amazing and beautifully written videos about any kind of topic I've every watched. Bravo Curious Archive, bravo.

I really don't know why but i cry almost everytime i watch one of your videos. The thought and consideration that you put in there, that hope of optimism in a world filled with pessimism and seemingly only ends makes me feel at ease. The world will continue and thrive even after we are dead and forgotton, that gives me a feeling of calmness i can hardly explain. Thank you for making those videos. The way you intertwine concepts of fiction with scientific discoveries results in a philosophy I aprechiate a lot

I love this channel, always so interesting

these videos are awesome, i came for the speculative evoloution and stayed for all of it

Man i was thinking of watching some of your videos before going to sleep and you released a new one, perfect

Abzu is literally one of the most beautiful video game experiences ive ever had, im so glad to see you talk about its atmosphere

Bro I love your channel, keep up the good work

There's a puzzle-platform game that I love, called Unravel, that could fit the concept of a dead world to some degree. Basically, you play as a little red yarn figure, Yarny, who seeks to gather the memories of an old woman's past. The environments are beautiful, but even with all the evidence of human activity around you, the people themselves are largely absent, appearing primarily as static memories in the background. You get the sense that these places have been abandoned, even if only recently. It's just you and whatever animals you happen to come across. Any actual people in the game are few and far between and appear only briefly.

I think this was one of my favourite videos you've ever made. Simply breathtaking and a well constructed narration 👏

Amazing video, you truly never disappoint. It was made all the more bittersweet due to my Gramps' recent death and already going through the 5 stages of grief. It made me feel comfortable being reminded that other people go through the same as I have.

These are all my favorite games, lol. You have good taste! Of all of them, though, Sable might just be my favorite. When I finished the game, I just sat on top of a tower and watched the sun set and then watched the sun rise for an in game day listening to the sounds of the world...that is a game memory I will never forget.

That was a really good video. Heck, one of my favorites.

This reminded me of Shriek in Ori and the Will of the Wisps. My partner introduced me into this whole thing with two-dimensional worlds and the beauty they are. I'm so thankful for all the people who worked on things like this, which both enables content like this to exist and people to feel something they often didn't know they could feel. So am I also thankful for video essays like this. Thank you!

Love your videos; they are truly thought-provoking and often covering quite esoteric materials. Already introduced me to a few great games and artbooks I was unaware of: much appreciated. Keep up the great work!

I always feel this melancholy when playing these sort of games, the first one of this kind I played was Journey, and I played it dozens of times, always loving the narrative and the melancholy the world is built on.

The number and depth of intertextual links on display here is mind-bogglingly impressive.

I'm so impressed at how much content in this video is. The different games, the whale fall and the philosophical questions about the dead. Thabk you so much. I learned many things with this video.

A dead world is something i often think about. Just the thought of a place abandoned that once was so full of life is quite the mystery. Yet when i play a game or read something that has worlds like that i get a sense of melancholy and peacefulness i cannot explain. It so comforting, walking around a barren and abandoned place, but it is also so scary too. Like you know you are safe but something always says you aren't and even when nothing happens that feeling stays behind. I love dreaming of days like that where i am alone and at peace, with no one to bother me and no one to hurt me. Yet it's also leaves a sad feeling behind when i do think about. Anywho that was just on my mind. Great video dude i love your channel and only discovered it yesterday

when you were talking about the whale bones in Abzu I started crying 😭 Something about death of a huge and gentle creature resulting in life for years and years is emotional idk

Glad someone is taking about Sable, it's an amazing game!

When you began to switch from “researching” various worlds, I was a little nervous but understood. But you have fully and beautifully brought that into fantastically executed video essays. Keep going :)

Just wanna say I watch your videos from time to time and I love these meditations on the games you play. Well done

Love to see it keep it up man

Lets go. New video!

Your videos just have such a great vibe man, keep making these, they slap

Wow. A beautiful video about beautiful dead worlds that also asks deep questions. Going through the grieving process right now, and I found this wildly moving and… comforting. Thank you CA.

Did not expect to see Hollow Knight in a curious archive video, I’m happy about it being here tho

glad you mentioned abzu I would say rain world is also a good example with the ancients dying or ascending and leaving behind atrophying robotic megatructures and the descendants of bioengineered organisms.

this video gave me what I needed to think deeper about myself and allowed me to better understand certain things while helping me get past some of the less savory aspects of grief in my own life

Fantastic episode CA. The exploration of how death pervades each environment but like a whalefall leads to an explosion of life is amazing. It reminds me of the world you did a while back where the massive creatures fall from the sky in death only to feed the rest is a sad kind of beauty.

I would say that a dead world depends on what "dead" and "world" even mean. Dead could mean something is completely forgotten and world could mean your perception of reality

I saw the title and knew Gris would be in it!

I've been playing Remannt 2 for a couple months now and I feel like that game belongs in a video such as this. You basically travel to different worlds, which are mostly dead or in the process of dying. Ne'rud, in particular feels like something that would fit the definition of a dead world. Such an awesome game with great lore. As always, amazing video! Looking forward to more.

3 weeks late watching this vid, but, curious archive I just have to say, your video editing is just so beautiful, paired with great topics that make your videos feel truly alive, they are always something special to watch. Thank you for the content you create.

In a video about dead worlds i'm surprise that there's no mentioned of Journey. good video

amazing video!

I could die happy listening to your voice how it’s so soft yet so powerful I can’t even say but either way thank u for these small bouts of peace.

This has been one of my favorite videos of yours as a longtime fan. If you've never played The Outer Wilds, you would love it. It fits very much into these Dead Worlds.

This is really beautiful! The aesthetic of Gris reminds me a little bit of Journey/Sky: Children of the Light. I haven’t played Journey, but Sky definitely takes place in a living/dead world, the previous society remaining as spirts while the light children move through it. It’s kind of half-revived through the players. All the stages of the game are representing stages of life, which is interesting because you can constantly replay through all of them, so I guess its kind of a game about constant rebirth.

The world of Nier Automata is such a beautiful dead world.

Another phenomenal video! I’m so glad you mentioned the Teasdale poem, it has such a beautiful and comforting message

I don’t usually comment o videos but the way you conveyed this was really quite nice. there’s a comic I love- We Only Ever Find Them When They’re dead- the art is absolutely stunning but the story follows this concept. humanity relies on the corpses of dead gods to sustain themselves. different parts are used for medicine or food- and we follow the story of a man who had lost his entire family to the buying and selling of these parts and his story of grief until we meet a new form of life entirely. and I remember this one line “if I am to be something new, let me live.” it’s beautiful honestly. I love to see people convey these kind of messages in these stories.

Dead Worlds or worlds empty of life apart from Plant life with empty Citys Towns and other places have always fascinated me so much to explore and know and to find. You should check out SCP- 2935 Titled Oh Death it's really fascinating it involves a Dead World. Respect and keep up the epic work.

I can’t believe you didn’t mention scorn! That’s about as dead as you can get, the whole game looks like earth died and going through putrefaction. There are these horrific posthuman creatures, but I’d hardly call them life as we know it.

This is... you're just so talented at this, I can't put it into words!

Didn't expect to see one of my favorite animation in your video. And it is amazing video, thank you.

Darksouls also has a great dead world setting!

I loved the art in Gris but, I dunno, I always felt like it was one of those games that has nothing but symbolism going for it and ends up being far too vague as a result.

This channel shows me so many games I never knew about that I then go play. Awesome.

it's been a *long* time since a youtube video almost made me cry, good job

This is always fun

As The Gunslinger says, "The World Moved On." I think the creator coordinates with space, time, light, gravity, and matter to create. Before creation there was only mass, gravity, and space. A place can have mass, gravity, and space to it but feel time is meaningless there. As if the farthest reaches of that world have no place anymore. What light there is as hollow and empty. Like you will seek for a long time to understand the fullness of what once was.

Such an underrated channel, your videos are always so insightful

There is a certain peace and pride that comes with exploring a ‘dead’ world. The peace is self explanatory, but the pride is a fascinating sense that emerges from questioning why we were spared from the widespread death. This is fuel for our search for meaning.