Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 30m

Incredibly honored to have been selected and to be in such wonderful company - I'm very excited to travel to Durham in December. Huge thanks to everyone involved!

Durham Classics and Ancient History @durhamclassics.bsky.social · 8h

💥 Congrats to Dr Alexander Vanderwalle, whose thesis has been awarded the Durham Prize in Classical Reception for 2025!

👏 CongratulatCongratsions also to Aimee Hind Scott on second place, and to Jessica Glueck, whose thesis was highly commended.

📅 Prize lecture in Durham at 5pm on 10th Dec.

3 1 4

Reposted by Alexander Vandewalle

Ryan North? But - he died... 30 years ago this very night!! @ryannorth.ca · 5d

In video games, you will often find a fully roasted chicken abandoned on the ground, and eating it extremely quickly makes you feel better. What's less known is that this is also true in real life

41 530 2.5K

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 13d

printing this out and hanging it near my desk to look at next time I need to follow word counts

Scylla from Hades II (2025, Supergiant Games) saying "Ohh, youwent looking through our work! So what if a few ideas go unused here and there? If you don't cut... you never get to the good stuff."

1 1 5

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 13d

Thanks, Alexandra!! Enjoy those replays!

an advertisement for immortals fenyx rising shows a person flying through the air

ALT: an advertisement for immortals fenyx rising shows a person flying through the air

media.tenor.com

1

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 13d

Thanks, Alexis!!

2

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 14d

😂😂 You're too kind, Kira!!

1

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 14d

May 2026 👀

My monograph "Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games" will be out next year in @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social's IMAGINES series!

Many thanks to @ubisoft.com for the #ImmortalsFenyxRising art ⚡

More information (soon!) on www.bloomsbury.com/uk/character...

The cover of "Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games" by Alexander Vandewalle, to be published in the IMAGINES series by Bloomsbury Academic in May 2026. The cover depicts the cover art of Immortals Fenyx Rising, showing the game's protagonist Fenyx in battle with a towering Cyclops.

8 11 45

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 15d

I know, I think I'm missing something somewhere...

1

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 15d

(they liked it! - even though we did get stuck and basically ran out of max health by the end of our 40 min play session 😂)

1

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 19d

So mote it be

1

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 19d

I'll keep that in mind, thanks!

1

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 19d

In the name of research (but also genuine enjoyment), I accept this message

Supergiant Games @supergiantgames.bsky.social · 19d

🌒HADES II v1.0 is OUT NOW!! 🌘

Battle beyond the Underworld in our bewitching sequel to the godlike roguelike. Go Kill Time!

Nintendo Switch 2: supergiant.games/h2switch2
Nintendo Switch: supergiant.games/h2switch
Steam: supergiant.games/h2steam
Epic Games Store: supergiant.games/h2egs

Hades II – Nintendo Switch™ 2 Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Hades II – Nintendo Switch™ 2 Edition and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.

supergiant.games

1 5

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 20d

Hah, apologies... Here's hoping Hades II can manage to take your mind off them in less than two hours!

1

Reposted by Alexander Vandewalle

classicstober.bsky.social @classicstober.bsky.social · 23d

#ClassicsTober prompts for October ‘25
#ClassicsTober25

ClassicsTober25: Katabasis

1. Hypnos
2. Thanatos
3. Graeae
4. Shroud
5. Hermes Psychopompos
6. Moirai
7. φαρμακίς (pharmakis) - witch, sorceress
8. Erebos
9. Lampades
10. Hekate
11. Torch
12. Styx
13. Empousa
14. Cocytus
15. Τέρατα (Térata) - monsters
16. Typhon
17. Echidna
18. Kharon
19. Shade
20. Acheron
21. Kerberos
22. Judge
23. Lamia
24. Phlegethon
25. Tartarus
26. Punishment
27. Erinyes
28. Phobos & Deimos
29. Mysteries
30. Lethe
31. Elysian Fields

1 23 46

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 22d

Yes!!! Looking forward to students' reactions here 😄

2

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 22d

However, when we're playing Civilization in November, I think I we might play for an hour, as it's a slower and more complex game. In general I think it depends on the point I want to make with it (e.g. we don't *need* to play Braid for an hour to grasp its storytelling, great though it is).

1 2

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 22d

It varies! We played Obra Dinn for +/- 35 minutes today, which was enough to get a sense of how it works, how it tells a nonlinear story, etc. Next week we're playing Braid, but 10-15 minutes should suffice here (as I'm also showing A Highland Song, and that's the one I really want to focus on).

1 3

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 22d

(the picture is illustrative and not an accurate reflection of attendance this morning)

4

Alexander Vandewalle @alexvandewalle.bsky.social · 22d

(Co-)Taught my first class today! It's a game studies course, focusing on the interplay between video games, literary texts, and history. We had some introductions to video game narratives and game studies, and we finished by playing Return of the Obra Dinn!

2 32

Reposted by Alexander Vandewalle

Classical Receptions @crsn-uk.bsky.social · 22d

CRSN is looking for Early Career Researchers who are interested in convening or co-convening the Classical Reception seminar series at the Institute of Classical Studies this summer! For more information, see the link below:
classicalreception.org/call-for-ecr...