List of FiguresList of Contributors1 The Middle Ages in Modern Games: An Adolescent Field Robert Houghton, University of Winchester, UK2 Unbending Medievalisms: Finding counterfactual history in sandbox games set in the Middle Ages, Ylva Grufstedt, Malmö University, Sweden 3 Playing the Sonic Past: reflections on sound in medieval-themed video games, Mariana López, University of York, UK4 Medieval Sounds, Sounding Medieval, Karen M. Cook, University of Hartford, USA5 All on board for the Crusades, Gordon Smith, University of Edinburgh, UK6 Subverting the Valiant Crusader: The Sarafan in the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series, Liam McLeod, University of Birmingham, UK7 Making Friendships, Breaking Friendships: Exploring Viking-Age Social Roles Through Player Strategy in A Feast for Odin, Adam Bierstedt, University of Reykjavik, Iceland8 Abandoning Civilization: Medieval Rulership in Crusader Kings III, Reigns, and Mount and Blade: Warband, Robert Houghton, University of Winchester, UK9 Joan of Arc, the Meme of Orléans: The Playful Liberties Taken with History by the Age of Empires 2 Gaming Community, Jonathan Bloch, Independent Scholar10 On the Postcolonial Analysis of ‘Indians’ in Age of Empires II: A Theory of “Ethical Programs” Behind Postcolonial Criticisms of Videogames, Neil Nagwekar 11 Virtually (De)Colonized: Racial Identity and Colonialism in the Middle Ages and as Depicted in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Innocence: A Plague Tale, The Elder Scrolls, and Black Desert Online, Johansen Quijano, University of Texas at Arlington, USA12 Representations of Medieval Gender Archetypes in Fantasy Role-Playing Games, Markus Eldegard Mindrebø, Royal Holloway, UK13 Ashen, Hollow, Cursed: Fragile Knighthood in the Dark Souls Series and its Medieval Antecedents, Patrick Butler, University of Connecticut, USA 14 Matilda of Canossa and Crusader Kings II: (Papal) Warrior Princess, Blair Apgar, University of York, UKIndex

Playing the Middle Ages amply demonstrates how evolved and diversified Middle Age worlds have become over decades of digital gaming…Games under scrutiny range from the late 1990s to early 2020s. This book is well presented.

This wide-ranging monograph series responds to emerging themes and interdisciplinary research methods in medieval scholarship, including the reception and reworking of the medieval in the post-medieval period. Particular concerns involve cataloguing the rich variety of experience of medieval people and exploring cultural transfer across different periods, places and groups. These are expressed in the many scholarly themes highlighted below and, taken together, seek to contribute to the future directions and debates of medieval studies.Key Themes:* Medieval lives including marginal voices, variation and dissimilitude* Cultural exchange and interconnectedness across medieval Europe* The reception and re-use of the Middle Ages in later periods* Re-evaluating medieval history from a global perspectiveWe particularly welcome proposals from scholars working in the following areas:- religious and ethnic minorities- gender and queer history- emotional communities- postcolonial perspectives- travel, trade and migration- work that extends reception of the Middle Ages beyond the predominantly British perspectives of published work to date- digital and new media receptions- work responding to the idea of an ‘ethical turn’