• the Cold War legacy of presenting the region as a zone of conflict and political oppression, source providing a handy tool to dissect state oppression, poverty and grassroot resistance movements in games such as “This War of Mine” or “Papers, please”
• folkloresque depiction of Central Europe as a land rural liminal space of pagan traditions, grotesque, gruesome customs, monsters and undead tyrants in titles such as “Resident Evil 8 – Village” or “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”
• the region inevitably haunted by ghosts of the past, both methaphorically (“Attentat 1942”, “Disco Elysium”) and literally (“Medium”, “Someday You’ll Return”)

I will analyze both games set in real geographies and cultures, as well as set in fictional countries and worlds, coded as Central European. This way I am to present major treads of presenting Central European cultures in digital games, and pinpoint key differences with the tradition established in other media, given the importance and position of the regional game development industry in the global gaming culture.