--- title: "This Game Is “Oregon Trail” Meets Climate Catastrophe" description: "A free-to-play video game like Oregon Trail called \"Climate Trail\" imagines an apocalyptic world in which we failed to fight climate change. Do you survive?" date: "2019-10-29" modified: "2019-10-29" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/climate-oregon-trail-game" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate change" - "the digest" - "video game" --- # This Game Is “Oregon Trail” Meets Climate Catastrophe ![A free-to-play video game like Oregon Trail called "Climate Trail" imagines an apocalyptic world in which we failed to fight climate change.]() *\Image: William Volk\* ## Climate Trail In the new free-to-play video game "[Climate Trail,]()" developer William Volk imagines an apocalyptic world in which we failed to fight climate change. The title — available on iOS, Android, macOS and Windows — is a nod towards the iconic educational video game "Oregon Trail," an iconic simulator of 19th-century pioneer life. But rather than being set over a hundred years ago, [according to *Gizmodo*](), players have to make their way journeying through a bleak, late 21st century landscape. Volk envisions the "climate trail" itself as the only way to survive in a post-climate catastrophe world, leading away from deadly heatwave temperatures in the American South to a much cooler Canada. "I’m trying to fight the fight by basically putting people in a situation that could happen," Volk told *Gizmodo*. "It’s not impossible." ## Surviving Climate Change Players are led through a series of graphic novel-style scenes exploring what such a world would look like. It sounds bleak: empty stores, heatwaves, and gigantic storms. To survive, you'll have to buy enough food, collect water, and scavenge in city centers. Different difficulty modes explore different climate scenarios, ranging from the Earth warming just four degrees Celsius all the way to a deadly six. While models more often explore scenarios where the Earth warms only two degrees Celsius, the scenarios explored in the game are largely in line with science, according to *Gizmodo*. "The catch-22 about this game is I started it with a much more optimistic attitude than when I finished it," Volk told the site. "The more I dug into it, the more it seemed things were actually worse than imagined." **READ MORE:** [A New Video Game Tests Whether You Can Survive the Climate Apocalypse]() \[*Gizmodo*\] **More on climate change:** *[Experts: Population Control Won’t Solve Climate Change]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()