The World is Born From Zero is an investigation into the relationship between video games and
science fiction through the philosophy of speculation. Cameron Kunzelman argues that the video
game medium is centered on the evaluation and production of possible futures by following video
game studies media philosophy and science fiction studies to their furthest reaches. Claiming
that the best way to understand games is through rigorous formal analysis of their aesthetic
strategies and the cultural context those strategies emerge from Kunzelman investigates a
diverse array of games like The Last of Us VA-11 Hall-A and Civilization VI in order to
explore what science fiction video games can tell us about their genres their ways of
speculating and how the medium of the video game does (or does not) direct us down
experiential pathways that are both oppressive and liberatory. Taking a multidisciplinary look
at these games The World is Born From Zero offers a unique theorization of science fiction
games that provides both science fiction studies and video game studies with new tools for
thinking how this medium and mode inform each other.
