Video games often take influences from real-world cultures, sometimes to reflect particular eras and locations in historically-based games, but in other cases as a ‘shortcut’ for suggesting particular cultural norms. From Nordic influences in Skyrim to Middle-Eastern instrumentation in Assassin’s Creed and The Legend of Zelda, this episode will present a number of examples. The podcasts hosts will discuss how such borrowing can give game designers a quick method to generate a rich game world, but how in the process cultural appropriation becomes a major issue.

Musical examples:

1:58: New Donk City, Super Mario Odyssey

2:31: Main Theme, Battlefield 1

3:16: City of Jerusalem, Assassin’s Creed 1

4:01: Main Theme, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

4:46: Woman’s Battalion of Death, Battlefield 1: In The Name of the Tsar DLC

5:30: Cimbalom sample, Hammered Dulcimer Family, Tim Manning Music Magic (Bohak) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFaXcvHpJwU&list=PLfxFd1oEv69SNsbTPN4qBCbf0HMv26NRL&index=5 (1:50)

6:05: Dean Shostak Plays Cristal Baschet, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVHzwdnYdEc

6:57: Tibet: Tibetan Monks – Playing Long Horn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1_C3TLXRlI

9:18: Tostarena Ruins, Super Mario Odyssey

10:37: Polonaise, op. 53, Frederic Chopin

11:30: Nocturne in E-Flat Major, op. 9 no. 2, Frederic Chopin

12:15: Volvo Queen of the Night Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRnXONCj45Q

12:44: Queen of the Night aria (“Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen”), from The Magic Flute, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

14:45: (Best Service) Voice Spectral Vol. 1 “Track 76” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U34MFcJdGCo (12:03)

16:00: City of Jerusalem, Assassin’s Creed 1

17:16: Darkness Falls in Florence, Assassin’s Creed 2

17:02: Access the Animus, Assassin’s Creed 1

17:50: Phoibe the Orphan, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

18:20: Gerudo Town (Night), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

24:12: Tostarena: Town, Super Mario Odyssey

25:33: Las Alazanas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klVe7_2UEQ8

27:28: Chaharmezrab Nava, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95amB7kUu-k

29:12: Dawn of a New Time, Battlefield 1

29:39: Zajdi, Zadji, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7FWkXgXkM (1:40)

30:31: The Parting Glass, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag

35:05: Gerudo Valley, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

36:10: Gerudo Town (Day), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild