An (Early) Argument for the Anthropomorphocene
Post-apocalyptic fictions tend to focus on the ‘portrayal of the tenacity and continuity of humanity amidst […] extreme challenges’ (Patra, 2021) and, as such, center stories of human survival in these new environments. Within video games, we can look to examples such as Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerilla Games, 2017) or Fallout 4 (Bethesda Softworks, 2015), which are post-apocalyptic fictions set outside the geological era of human influence on planet Earth, which is referred to as the post-Anthropocene (Ruffino, 2020; Wallin, 2022). However, it is nonetheless interesting that – despite their placement in the post-Anthropocene – these fictions still rely on the contextual placement of the human experience in these events and settings. In doing so, these texts lack a focus on the experiences of the non-human in these worlds that largely exist outside the influence of mankind, resulting in, as stated by Smith (2024), distinctly humanist structures being applied to these non-human worlds such as capitalist exploitation.
Exploring this led me to consider the potential for furry video games to provide insights as texts that enmesh the human and the non-human through anthropomorphic animal characters. However, in approaching furry video games, it became apparent that discussing these imaginaries as belonging to a “post-Anthropocene” was not entirely appropriate, as this term arguably prioritises the loss of human influence in these worlds instead of the experiences of the non-human. Therefore, I propose instead that we describe these texts instead as an “Anthropomorphocene”, a fiction set in a geological era of anthropomorphic non-human influence. This term allows for the acknowledgement of the inevitable human influence on the texts, as the experience of the post-Anthropocene is spectral, or rather a vision of humanity without humanity is something that can only be discussed instead of lived (Yang, 2024). But the shift in priority creates space for the aesthetic, narrative, and – in video games specifically – mechanical distance of the non-human to examine where this humanity can be challenged or subverted.
For example, the popular furry video game series Fuga: Melodies of Steel (CyberConnect2, 2021-2025), depicts a world in which nature and animals have reclaimed the world in the absence of humankind following an apocalyptic event. In this Anthropomorphocene fiction, anthropomorphised canine and feline creatures – the Caninu and Felineko respectively – have become what we could loosely term the “new humanity” of Earth. The two races of Fuga have become dominant in this post-apocalyptic imaginary in a similar, but less antagonistic, fashion to that of mutants or zombies in other fictional post-apocalyptic narratives (Baishya, 2011), actively replacing humanity as the primary influence of the geological era. This not only reflects fictional post-apocalyptic ideas of the reclamation of Earth by nature and animals, with nature being seen as a symbol of hope, but the promise of building new societies after the human apocalypse (Pérez-Latorre, et al., 2019). However, this isn’t to say that post-apocalyptic fictions such as Fuga or those discussed by Baishya forgo the examination of humanity entirely, but these texts instead focus on both the humanity and non-humanity of the characters in the narrative, where the experiences of the “human” still linger, but where the aspects of non-humanity have been key to survival.
Although I have used one anthropomorphic animal example here, I would argue that the lens of the Anthropomorphocene can be applied to any fictional text where humankind’s influence is significantly diminished, allowing for a shift in focus to the non-human from anthrocentrism. This can include the mutant and zombie fictions discussed by Baishya (2011), as well as the non-human video games discussed by Yang (2024) and Smith (2024), and beyond. The human influence on the characters and worldbuilding will still be apparent in these fictions, through the anthropomorphising or application of human features and behaviours to the non-human. But the shift to seeing these fictions as Anthropomorphocene foregrounds instead the exploration of the non-human experience as the focal point of the narrative.
REFERENCES:
Baishya, A.K. (2011) Trauma, Post-Apocalyptic Fiction & The Post-Human, Wide Screen, 3(1). Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anirban-Baishya/publication/307963852_TRAUMA_POST-APOCALYPTIC_SCIENCE_FICTION_THE_POST-HUMAN/links/57d3aba608ae0c0081e27b57/TRAUMA-POST-APOCALYPTIC-SCIENCE-FICTION-THE-POST-HUMAN.pdf>.
Patra, I. (2021) Of surviving humans and apocalyptic machines: Studying the themes of human continuity and posthuman proliferation in the post-apocalyptic world building in Alastair Reynolds’s inhibitor phase, Linguistics and Culture Review, 5(S3), pp. 734-749. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure.v5nS3.1645
Pérez-Latorre, Ó., Navarro-Remesal, V., Planells de la Maza, A. J., and Sánchez-Serradilla, C. (2019) Recessionary games: Videogames and the social imaginary of the Great Recession (2009–2015), Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 25(5-6), pp. 884–900. DOI: 10.1177/1354856517744489.
Ruffino, P. (2020) Nonhuman Games: Playing in the Post-Anthropocene, Death, Culture & Leisure: Playing Dead, Emerald, pp. 11-25. DOI: 10.1108/978-1-83909-037-020201008.
Smith, C. (2024) Of Cyborgs and Cats: Nonhuman Companionship and the Specter of Humanity in NieR:Automata and Stray, Journal of Games Criticism, 6(A). Available at: < https://gamescriticism.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/smith-6-a-1.pdf>.
Wallin, J. (2022) Game Preserves: Digital Animals at the Brink of the Post-Anthropocene, Green Letters, 26(1), pp. 102-115. DOI: 10.1080/14688417.2021.2023607.
Yang, Y. J. (2024) Playing Nonhumanity: Simulating the Animal Apocalypse in Tokyo Jungle, Journal of Games Criticism, 6(A). Available at: <https://gamescriticism.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/yang-6-a.pdf>.