door.donau-uni.ac.at o:5814 DOI 10.48341/jzj4-mt11 The Cute Shall Inherit the Earth: Animal Protagonists in Post-Human Game Worlds Recent video game titles such as Stray (2022) and Another Crab’s Treasure (2024) feature animal protagonists navigating and improving built worlds in the decades following the extinction of humans. In each, the player embodies a cute, unlikely hero as they reckon with old-world technologies inherited from humans, face deadly foes, and seek to either reclaim a long-forgotten past or start anew. Stray sees a cat, accompanied by an AI companion, ascend several architectural and societal layers of a near-lifeless city. Swarms of carnivorous zurks pursue the unnamed feline as it seeks respite among robotic communities. Another Crab’s Treasure follows a hermit crab, whose shell was stolen from its back, blaze a trail across a polluted ocean to reclaim his home. Throughout gameplay, the protagonist often returns to the city of New Carcinia to trade microplastics for goods. Through intertextual analysis, I will discuss the commonality and contrast of Stray, Another Crab’s Treasure, and other media in their depictions of post-apocalyptic architecture, fallen economies, stratified societies, and environmental abuse. More specifically, the unique animal lens through which players engage with these themes will be investigated. In what ways may an animal player character facilitate either more or less human gameplay? eng Anthropocene post-human video game narrative trash politics 2025-11-27T08:28:32.702Z LOMv1.0 Author BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:3.0 N:Mercer;Kevin; FN:Kevin Mercer END:VCARD https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/scheme https://w3id.org/kim/hcrt/text Textdokument Text LOMv1.0 yes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 application/pdf 382793 https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:5814 https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/api/object/o:5814/thumbnail LOMv1.0 discipline