Antiquity for Sale: Game Engines, Asset Stores, and the Platformisation of the Classical Imagination

Heroes, quests, gods, arenas, empire, war: those well-acquainted with videogames will likely recognise just how deeply those themes are integrated into the medium’s aesthetic, narrative, and gameplay structures. These ideas, alongside the overarching desire to play, experience, and create something ‘epic’ (seemingly an unofficial mantra for the industry), can be attributed in part to the influence of ancient Greek and Roman myth, epic, and history. Games that explicitly adapt the classical world and its mythology — including well-known titles like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Hades, and God of War1 — continue to attain widespread acclaim and commercial success.