Image created with ChatGPT

Discover Games for impact

Not all games are made purely for entertainment. Some are designed to inspire reflection, raise awareness, and address complex social topics. These experiences can be grouped under the umbrella term “Games for Impact.”

Games for Impact are video games created with goals beyond pure entertainment. They aim to generate positive change by tackling social issues, fostering empathy, educating players, or shifting attitudes. Through engaging gameplay, powerful narratives, persuasive design, and emotional connections with characters, these games can inspire meaningful reflection and real-world change.

Their relevance is increasingly recognised by major industry events such as The Game Awards, which include a dedicated prize for a “thought-provoking game with a pro-social meaning or message.”

Games for Impact achieve their impact primarily through their themes, by exploring historical periods, cultures, current societal challenges, or personal stories from marginalised communities.

Below, we showcase a selection of video games that fall into this category, inviting you to discover them, experience them, and be inspired by their powerful messages.

1) As Long As You’re Here

An emotional family drama seen through the eyes of a woman living with Alzheimer’s disease. Inspired by real personal stories and developed with care by a small independent team, “As Long As You’re Here” offers a subtle and sensitive reflection on what life with dementia can look like.

The game also invites players to reflect on the social responsibility of family members who take on a caregiving role, an especially relevant topic in a European Union that is gradually ageing.

Through the passing of seasons, the game delicately portrays the progression of the disease, showing how behaviours change over time. As memories become more fragmented, Annie begins to reconnect with moments from her childhood and earlier life.

Quick to play yet emotionally impactful, the game is highly recommended. It also serves as a strong reminder that human dignity, a core EU value, must be guaranteed at every stage of life.

2) Neva

Winner of The Game Awards 2024 – Game for Impact, Neva tells the story of a woman and a young wolf travelling through a dying world.

At its core, the game explores the evolving parent–child relationship. As one of the creators explained:

“We were interested in exploring how these relationships change over time. At the beginning, children need protection and education, but as teenagers, they can become rebellious and challenge authority figures. As they grow into adulthood, they become more responsible and begin to think about living their own lives, which their parents need to accept. To represent this relationship, we needed two characters to show how at least one of them is growing.”

The story unfolds across four seasons, each introducing changes in gameplay and new layers of reflection. Alongside the emotional bond between characters, the game subtly addresses the destructive effects of war and climate change on an otherwise beautiful world.

The striking art style amplifies the emotional impact, encouraging reflection on civic themes such as parenting, sustainability, and education for peace.

3) This War of Mine

While many war games place players in the role of military heroes, This War of Mine shifts the focus to the often-overlooked collateral victims: civilians forced to survive a war they never chose.

As the player, you guide a group of ordinary people through day-to-day survival. The gameplay revolves around managing limited resources while facing constant threats such as hunger, disease, and depression. Along the way, players are confronted with difficult decisions that challenge their ethics and moral values.

Designed for replayability, the game presents different realistic and heartbreaking scenarios each time.

Not a game for everyone, but an extremely powerful one. This War of Mine effectively highlights the real human consequences of conflict, an issue often underrepresented in traditional media, and reinforces the importance of EU values such as freedom and democracy.

4) The Climate Game: Can You Reach Net Zero?

A free-to-play, browser-based game released in 2022 by the Financial Times, in collaboration with Infosys.

The Climate Game is a surprising well-structured, decision-based experience in which players take on the role of the Global Minister for Future Generations. The goal is to avoid the worst effects of global warming by 2050—a target aligned with the EU’s Green Transition and the European Green Deal.

The game is built on real-world data and emissions modelling developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Players navigate three decades of policy decisions, learning how complex and interconnected climate action truly is.

It clearly demonstrates how difficult can be cutting emission, why long-term consistency matters, and how little time remains to address this urgent challenge.

Quick to play but hard to master, The Climate Game challenges assumptions and encourages multiple playthroughs in the pursuit of a better future.



Conclusions

We hope this selection has inspired you and offered a glimpse into the wide and diverse landscape of Games for Impact. This list is only a starting point for discovering how games can meaningfully engage with social and civic issues.

If you want to explore further, we recommend checking out the “Games for Change” collection, which includes over 150 digital and non-digital games addressing contemporary social challenges in impactful ways. Your next favourite game might be waiting there.

Finally, stay tuned for our own upcoming Videogames for Impact. The EU Video Game Project will soon create 10 educational model games focused on EU values and democracy. These games will demonstrate how civic education can be integrated into digital learning and will serve as a foundation for more future Games for Impact, this time created directly by young people.

Interested in getting involved? Stay in touch, more information is coming soon!

 

 

References: