This event – a round table conversation about the representation of the Greek gods in Supergiant’s game, Hades – was a collaboration between the Department of Digital Humanities and the Department of Classics at King's College London, and UCL Modern Languages.

One of the most acclaimed roguelikes in recent time, Hades (Supergiant, 2018) has been lauded for the seamless interweaving of its character design and storytelling with its compelling gameplay. Its unique representation of the Greek gods as a colourful cast of characters encountered on Zagreus' journey has stimulated much discussion.

Join us for a Digital Humanities Game Lab event – a round table conversation between Kate Cook (King's College London, Department of Classics), Xiaochun Zhang (UCL, Modern Languages), and Feng Zhu (King's College London, Department of Digital Humanities). We will discuss the representations of the Greek gods in the Hades series and their reception as well as questions around the relationship between classical mythology and digital games.

Hades will be available for attendees to play after the round table.

Speakers' Info:

• Dr Kate Cook is a Lecturer in Greek Culture in the Department of Classics at King's College London. Her games research explores gender in historical games, focusing particularly on the representations of women in classical video games, and a current project on historical and mythological sexuality in games. She has also worked on the presentation of history, myth, or the internal past of game worlds, and time travel in video games. Her publications and forthcoming works include the co-edited volumes Women in Classical Video Games and the Routledge Companion to History and Video Games, and chapters and articles on gender and agency in the mobile game Choices: A Courtesan of Rome, female protagonists in Expeditions: Rome, the representation of the goddess Persephone across a selection of games, Time Travel in Mobile Games, and Women and Sexism in Historical Games. She has also contributed to a range of podcasts and streams including episodes in the History Respawned series and for the Save Ancient Studies Alliance, examining the treatment of ancient material in modern games.
• Dr Xiaochun Zhang is a Lecturer in Translation Studies at University College London, specialising in video game localisation and accessibility. She has published over 40 articles and book chapters on topics including translation strategies in game localisation, fan translation of audiovisual products, cultural adaptation in game localisation, and translation technology. Dr Zhang has led and participated in several research projects, including national and international consortiums across Europe and China, with funding from the British Academy, Research England, and the European Commission. Currently, she is working on the AIAD project, aiming to enhance accessibility and inclusivity in video games through AI-facilitated audio descriptions.
• Dr Feng Zhu is Senior Lecturer in Digital Games and Culture in the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. His research focuses on the significance of gaming practices as ways in which players carve out habits, dispositions, modes of perception, and relations to self. He is interested in understanding such processes as informing us about how we have always worked on ourselves and how there may be ethico-aesthetic possibilities to wander away from existing forms of subjectivity amidst the drive to optimizing processes along narrow parameters. He is leading the Digital Humanities Games Lab, which establishes a research environment for digital games and is engaged in investigating these (and other) issues.