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Games about death improve our lives (Kaitlin Tremblay) (Patreon)

Published:
2025-08-01 16:53:01
Edited:
2025-10-10 05:40:37
Imported:
2026-06

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Countless video games depict death, but few ask us to contemplate our mortality. Thank goodness. Mario wouldn’t be nearly as fun if we had to attend every goomba’s funeral.

And yet, as I approach 40 and my death anxieties find new ways to keep me awake, I wonder if video games could be uniquely equipped to help us emotionally grapple with the big question that has no answer: what comes next?

So, I called an expert. Video game writer and narrative director Kaitlin Tremblay has written three games exploring the many sides of death: A Mortician’s Tale, Seasonala Cemetery, and the upcoming Ambrosia Sky.

Don't let the topic fool you. This is an uplifting conversation. And hey, if you're listening to this episode, then I can guarantee one thing: you're alive.

Act 1: A life of making games about death

Act 2: How death in games can help us

Patreon Bonus: Why I keep playing this tiny game about dying

Act 3: News of the Week

Act 1: A life of making games about death

Ambrosia Sky is Metroid Prime meets PowerWash Simulator, which still may sell it short (Polygon)

A Mortician’s Tale (Steam)

Seasonala Cemetery (Steam)

Death in games (Soft Rains Games)

Act 2: How death in games can help us

20 Most Emotional Video Game Deaths, Ranked (CBR)

Death Positivity in Video Games (Gabby DaRienzo)

What video games can tell us about death (Astral Noize) 

The Gamification of Death (GDC)

Rest in Play: Exploring Death in Videogames (A Good Death)

Patreon bonus: Why I keep playing this tiny game about dying

Passage (Passage.toolness.org)

What I was trying to do with Passage (Jason Rohrer)

The Video-Game Programmer Saving Our 21st-Century Souls (Esquire)

Act 3: News of the week

August 2025 is the month of remakes and remasters (PCGamer)

What’s wrong with AAA games? The development of the next Battlefield has answers. (ArsTechnica)

Battlefield 6 Reveal Trailer (Battlefield on YouTube)

Inside The Mass Call Campaign To Stop Video Game Censorship (Aftermath)

Demand payment processors stop facilitating rape, incest + child abuse game sales! (Collective Shout)

The chaos and confusion of itch.io and Steam’s abrupt adult game ban (The Verge)

This week in video game links

When Is A Video Game Allowed To Die? (Gamespot)

Hideo Kojima says he won't play the MGS 3 remake, mentions he knows loads of ways to kill people, doesn't elaborate, leaves (PCGamer)

How VTubers Are Leading The Backlash Against Adult Game Censorship (Kotaku)

Time Flies when you're thinking about dying (Polygon)

A cult-favorite series returns after 14 years to Nintendo Switch (Polygon)

Free game of the week: Tanuki: Pon’s Summer demo

“The Tanuki Festival is just a month away, and the shrine is in disrepair. Follow Pon, a well meaning, if a bit lazy Tanuki with a part-time job at the Post Office, as he works to restore the shrine before summer ends. Deliver packages, make friends, and get the shrine ready for the big festival!”

What else I’m enjoying

Let’s Scare Jessica Death 4K UHD + Blu-ray (Vinegar Syndrome)

Shoplifting just to feel something (NYMag)

How I’m Fixing My Broken Attention Span (Vulture)

How MTV Helped Create the Trump-Era Fame Factory (NYTimes)

Two Ways To Film The Same Scene (#2) (Nerdwriter)

Comments

Joe Moore

Taking the name "Post" games very literally

Kormakur Gardarsson

What a poignant episode. Thanks for tackling such a topic with grace and humour, Chris

Sam Kaufer

Really great episode, probably my favorite so far. Your topic and guest pairings have been phenomenal. Keep up the good work!!

Sid Montoya

I turn 40 next week and this topic hits me hard! Just the mention of miscarriage made me ugly-cry -- thank you. I have been needing a good release-cry!

Goositrous

My brother was 6 years younger than me. I was a mean older brother, and then I was out of the house and just gone. My relationship with him was antagonistic when we were young and just distant when we were older, with one exception- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was our favorite game, both of us. Most of the positive memories I have from that time with him are from us playing that game together. I’d help him beat the bosses sometimes but he was really pretty good for his age. It had a mini game in the castle where you picked between two chests, one that let you progress and one that kicked you out and he was weirdly good at it- you’re supposed to use the Eye of Truth to cheat but he made it to the end just guessing somehow. He died unexpectedly in 2017. It was right after Breath of the Wild came out, and in my mind that game was about him. It was just so cool and impressive, it felt exactly like the realization of the thing Ocarina was trying to evoke through the limitations of 1998 hardware. I don’t know if this story has a point. I wish I was nicer as a kid, and made more of an effort as an adult. And I wish he’d gotten to see the cool new Zelda game, I think it would’ve been something we could’ve talked about.

Zachary Martel

This is easily my favorite episode so far. As a late 30s fella I echo many of the same anxieties but never really talk about them. Your personal story has me considering therapy as a solution, and I've wishlisted both A Morticians Tale and Ambrosia Sky. Thank you. 🙏

Kyle Starr

I really appreciated the transparency into your own anxiety. I’ve found myself in a strange place as of late — months away from 40; facing mortality in a variety of ways from raising young kids (3 yrs, 4 mos) to the deaths of elderly relatives; apathy in my career and its impact; seeming increasing memory loss; uncertainty about hobbies, passions, motivations, talents; etc etc. Not to mention a rapidly changing and chaotic political, economic, and technological landscape. The swift death of a neighbor who was diagnosed with ALS a few months after retirement really shook me, for career yes, but also about the general preciousness of life and the constant struggle between not waiting to do what you love, maintaining stability, and staying present. Life is odd, and the inevitability yet uncertainty of death only magnifies that. Thank you for this episode.

Directional Joy

❤️ I feel like Plante was most certainly prepared (notes and a willingness to get personal) but there was a smidge of nervousness with the conversation. This isn’t a criticism, it humanized him, imo. I have dealt with loss but talking about it out loud is a whole other level. 🫡

Isaac Goff-Mitchell

This is the best episode yet. Thank you for making this.

Bryce Overcast

If you would like to contemplate death and the funeral industry more, this episode (and the games discussed therein) is a great companion to The Smoke Gets in your Eyes (and Other Lessons from the Crematory) by Caitlin Doughty. It was one of the best books I read last year

REX_RIOT

I've listened to this episode twice now, and I'll probably listen to it again before I write out my thoughts that I've been thinking about death and what it means to be human, but that will come later and be longer and I'll post it on my website that I only have because of what you've said about the importance of having your own space like that. Setting that aside for now, I wanted to ask if you or perhaps Kaitlin Tremblay have any recommendations on games that deal with terminal illness. A friend I've never met in person but have long enjoyed sharing internet space with has stopped chemo, because it wasn't working. They're 37 years old, which is also the age I will be in November. My friend has a year left if they are lucky, according to their oncologist. I've been thinking of death as an impenetrable wall that we know we will all eventually meet, but the mystery of what's beyond the wall is impossible to solve. Anyone can turn the next corner in life and be surprised by that wall, maybe even all of us (a space bus could hit the earth next week), it's impossible to know. It's a more rare human experience to see that wall ahead of you, in the near and very real future. It must be a lonely experience, considering how unhealthy our modern society's relationship with death. I think video games might be the most effective art form to express nuanced human experiences, so I am hoping for recommendations of games from the perspective of the terminally ill as well as the loved ones of those terminally ill. Do you know of any games that tell that story? Thank you so much, I really appreciate you and Post Games.

Casey Shinn

I had a backlog of episodes while doing some gardening and boy did this one stand out. I felt like this was some of your best interviewing yet -- it truly made me feel like I was in the early/mid 00s reading a killer Rolling Stone interview back when those were interesting. But it was better because I could hear the interviewee making connections live with you. Just really awesome stuff. Was a bit surprised not to hear a mention of Six Feet Under haha - great show if anyone hasn't seen it.