Why Video Game Creators Are Skipping the Bloodshed and Making 'Pacifist Games' Instead

A deer and a fawn are lost far from home, with no idea where they are or how they can get back to the woods. With the help of glowing antlers, curiosity and sheer will, the animals travel through wheat fields, abandoned subway systems and surreal sewers to make it back where they belong. This is Way to the Woods, a video game for PC and Xbox One due out in 2020 from an independent, 20-year-old developer named Anthony Tan. Following in the footsteps of similar so-called "pacifist" games like Journey, Firewatch and Night in the Woods, Way to the Woods is aimed at gamers looking for adult experiences that don't rely on violence to tell a compelling story. While President Donald Trump and others continue to suggest a connection between violent video games and mass shootings despite a lack of evidence, there has been a notable spike in games like Tan's that are more about exploration, story and design than racking up a body count.