Based on the book of Troy Vetesse and Drew Pendergrass, Half-Earth Socialism is a free videogame in which you are tasked with governing the world, reducing humanity greenhouse gas emissions, protecting biodiversity, and reducing the temperature to 1 degree above industrial levels at the year 2100. To reach that objective you’ll have different policy proposals to enact, which include technological developments (like more efficient renewable energy sources) and mostly leftist political and cultural changes (like promoting veganism or using public transport). Various rewilding policies, consistent on reducing the humanity use of land to let natural environments flourish without intervention, are also incorporated, as it’s one of the main arguments of the book.
The game depicts a clear ecosocialist scenario, in which a global revolution has occurred, and a parliament is formed with different left-wing groups (animalist, feminist, utopians or Fanonist, for example) forming a majority, along with other not so clearly leftist positions who are a minority (like the consumerist, representing the right-wing capitalist society). The players are encouraged to seek the support of these groups, building a coalition based on the policies chosen.
The consequences of the climate crisis are represented in the game in the form of negative events showing natural disasters, extinctions, or droughts, among others. The number of disasters is huge, showing the scale of the crisis but at the same time risking a certain normalization of them, a common problem in media trying to understand the climate emergency at a planetary scale.
References:
Vettese, T., & Pendergrass, D. (2022). Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics. Verso Books.