This conference is organised by Clare Chang (Lincoln College, DPhil Classical Language & Literature) and Sarah Marshall (St Hugh's College, DPhil Classical Language & Literature) in collaboration with the APGRD and Bristol Digital Game Lab.
According to the organisers, "The reception of the classical world in video games is by no means a new phenomenon, and the past decade has seen a rapid transformation and expansion of the digital landscape, with release of massively successful titles – Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey, God of War II and III, Rome: Total War, and Hades, to name only a few – introducing a global player base in the millions to the Greco-Roman world – in many cases, for the first time. Scholarly interest in the reception of the classical world in video games has given rise to a foundation of limited but fruitful scholarship, including several edited volumes (e.g., Thorsen 2012, Rollinger 2020, Draycott and Cook 2022, Sanz 2025) and monographs (André 2016, Clare 2021, Vandewalle 2026), and the recent conference New Directions in Classics, Gaming, and Extended Reality (Bristol, June 2024). Likewise, the panel ‘Game On! Teaching and Reinterpreting Classical Antiquity through Video Games’ at the 2026 SCS Conference made promising inroads into the pedagogical use of such games. While these are exciting developments, the current discussion has largely focused on titles produced by major Western developers, with little attention paid to studios beyond Europe and North America, such as those within the hugely successful East Asian sector.
In view of this research gap, this conference aims to serve as a platform for dialogue on Eastern and Western approaches to the reception of the classical world in video games. We are particularly interested in the duality of ‘Reception’: both the reception of the classical world in video games produced by non-Western studios (e.g. Elden Ring, Final Fantasy), including those hosted on mobile platforms (e.g., Fate/Grand Order, Reverse:1999), and the reception of these classically-inspired games in the non-Western world."
Call for Papers
We are delighted to circulate this conference's call for papers, which can be downloaded as a PDF. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Friday 20th of March.
Contact
Please email antiquityinsimulation@outlook.com with any queries.
Join us online
This is a hybrid event; join us in the Ioannou Centre or attend online via Zoom.
Accessibility
The Ioannou Centre lecture theatre is located on the ground floor and the Centre is fully wheelchair accessible; an accessible toilet is located on the ground floor and on the first floor. Please see the online Access Guide for more details about the building's accessibility.