Over his illustrious career, Jacob Geller has written and produced a sprawling collection of video essays. Deftly interweaving video game analysis with complex narratives about art, politics and history, Geller's work positions games as vital tools for understanding each other and ourselves.

How a Game Lives re-examines ten of Geller's most iconic essays accompanied by his brand-new commentary, afterwords on each piece by some of the industry's best writers and stunning original artwork by Kilian Eng and other exceptional artists.

With videos like "Who's Afraid of Modern Art?", "Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda", and "The Legacy of the Haunted House", Geller has taught audiences how to think about the art that's affected them. How a Game Lives immortalises those works and more and provides boundless insight into the construction, philosophy, and afterlife of each essay. Featuring original scripts and new industry analysis of the following works:

Who's Afraid of Modern Art?

Returnal is a Hell of Our Own Creation

Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House

Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything?

The Decade-Long Quest for Shadow of the Colossus' Last Great Secret

Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda

Art in the Pre-Apocalypse

The Golem and the Jewish Superhero

The Future of Writing about Games

Fear of Cold

The Annotated Essays of Jacob Geller, with brand-new commentary, analysis and original art. Perfect for fans of video game history and internet culture.

About the Author

Jacob Geller writes about the intersecting worlds of video games, politics, art, and storytelling.

He primarily publishes essays to YouTube, where his work has been cumulatively viewed over one hundred million times.

Reviews

Featured on Sight and Sound's list of "Best Video Essays of the Year," - 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Featured on Polygon's list of "Best Video Essays of the Year," - 2020, 2022, 2023

Jacob Geller ... is to the video game essay what Annie Dillard is to the literary essay" - Patrick House, LA Review of Books

"It probably goes without saying that Jacob Geller is the Future of Writing about Video Games, but he's also the future of writing about ... kind of anything?" - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, How a Game Lives

Jacob Geller is the host of the podcast Something Rotten.

Book Information
ISBN 9780008752293
Author Jacob Geller
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Expanse
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 900g
Dimensions(mm) 247mm * 196mm * 16mm