Elegy for a Dead World Brings Writing and Gaming Together

Dejobaan Games and Popcannibal have collaborated to create a video game perfect for overcoming writer’s block and engaging creative minds with stunning visuals and storytelling.

The creators of Elegy for a Dead World use British Romantic Era poets as inspiration for this indie video game. It’s a single player game in which players must explore three post-apocalyptic, lost civilizations, unveiling incredible scenery, and write each world’s unique history along the way.

Each lost world contains imagery and music inspired by poems from the Romantic era about the end days: Lord Byron’s Darkness, Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias, and John Keats’ When I have Fears That I May Cease to Be. The worlds feature strong moods that hope to inspire players to write.

Elegy for a Dead World eases writers into the process with prompts, challenges, and fill-in-the-blank sentences. There are 27 writing challenges ranging from short stories about a new character’s last days to songs about accepting the end to poetry about war. Each challenge is different, offering new points-of-view, characters, and more to explore.

As players move further along, they have the option to do away with all prompts and free-write instead. At the end of each world and the game, players have the option to share their stories with other players, read their works, post comments, and participate in discussions. All work is the player’s own.

One of the game’s developers, Ichiro Lambe, says, “The most important thing for us is that someone sits down and has a positive experience doing something creative.” The creators encourage anyone to play, whether a writer or not.