Editors’ Summary: In this review, Brandon Walsh explores how the sci-fi city builder Amberspire subverts traditional gaming tropes to reflect on the ongoing climate crisis. Unlike typical genre entries that favor endless growth and high-tension soundtracks, Amberspire pairs a brutal mechanics-of-decay system with a calm, ambient score composed by Paul Kilduff-Taylor. Walsh argues that this subversion rejects the loud sirens of panic, encouraging players to find quiet beauty in the wreckage of history. Ultimately, he highlights how the game fosters a meditative space to confront ecological inevitability and focus on the immediate work at hand.
