New Books Network Podcast Summary

Episode: Victor Navarro-Remesal, "Zen and Slow Games" (MIT Press, 2026)
Host: Rudolf Inderst
Date: March 3, 2026

Overview

In this episode of New Books in Game Studies, host Rudolf Inderst talks with game studies scholar Victor Navarro-Remesal about his new book, Zen and Slow Games. Their conversation explores the emergence of "slowness" and reflectiveness in video games—a medium typically associated with action, speed, and quick reflexes. Together, they unpack the histories, aesthetics, and design philosophies behind slow and “Zen” games, how they challenge dominant action-centric discourses, and what these games offer to players and game studies alike.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Victor Navarro-Remesal and His Research (02:33)

• Victor teaches video game history and narrative design in Barcelona, focusing on player freedom, interactive narrative, and failures in games.
• His research integrates European and East Asian perspectives, with collaboration with the Japan Foundation.
• The Zen and Slow Games project grew from his dissertation on player freedom and his observations on the rise of “Zen modes” and “slow gaming” in the 2010s.

Quote [04:46]:
“Slowness was the discovery of slowness for me. So I didn’t know where I was going to end up. But it was a very slow process. Fittingly.”
— Victor

2. Defining Reflective Games: Beyond Relaxation (06:51)

• Victor introduces “reflective games” as an umbrella term uniting games that center slowness, attention, and meditation—not just relaxation.
• Explains why “style” is a central, often-overlooked concept for understanding reflective games, as it shapes how meaning is constructed and experienced.

Quote [08:18]:
"It was not just slowness for slowness' sake… I used 'family' in the beginning, but I changed to 'style' because I realized that style is normally left out of the game studies conversation."
— Victor

• Identifies traits of the reflective style:

  • Amplified attentional demands
  • Use of time and “dead time” as design elements
  • Reduced reliance on reaction-based gameplay (“gameplay pressure”)
  • Positive, intentional use of meditation (in both the spiritual and contemplative senses)
  • A challenge to the conventional “flow” state

• Recognizes that these ideas and styles have long existed in games (like early text adventures), but only recently were they labeled and discussed as such.

3. From Zen Modes to Slow Gaming: Two Historical Moments (11:15)

• Zen Modes (2000s): Emerged during the “casual revolution”; inserted as commercial features for relaxation, often tied to Western appropriations of “Zen” and meditation in response to societal pressures.
• Slow Gaming (2010s): More aligned with the broader sociopolitical slow movement (e.g., slow food, slow travel), as a critique of speed, acceleration, and overwork in both culture and the games industry itself.

Quote [14:23]:
“Zen was a commercial label. Slow gaming was a reaction to commercialism… a reaction to crunch, a reaction to the AAA industry, the kind of industry we have now that crashed in 2023 because of the things that slow gaming and slow gaming proponents were criticizing.”
— Victor

4. The Unique Experiences Enabled by Slow/Reflective Games (16:19)

• Slowness isn’t merely a lack (of challenge, intensity, or engagement) but offers new positive experiences:
  • Exploration, strategizing, and analysis are central
  • “Dead time”—intentional downtime for reflection, planning, or simply being present
  • Not about rejecting “fun” or challenge, but offering different kinds of challenge and engagement

Quote [18:41]:
“Getting stuck in graphic adventures… breaks the flow. These moments where you have to stop, you have to carefully analyze… that's part of the gameplay.”
— Victor

5. Dead Time as a Design Element (21:09)

• “Dead time”—moments when “nothing happens”—is essential to fostering reflectiveness.
  • Present in games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Silent Hill 2, Shenmue, Death Stranding, and even mobile games like Hungry Hearts Diner
  • “Dead time” builds mood, tension, or gives space for contemplation

Quote [22:22]:
“Dead time is used very, very often and very skillfully… waiting moments, waiting mechanics… identifying dead time is a challenge and it’s a very rewarding challenge because the moment you start looking for it, you find it everywhere...”
— Victor

6. Slow Gaming in the Context of Media Acceleration and Attention Economy (25:14)

• Slow games counter the trends of platform-driven engagement, "workified" game mechanics, and the commodification of attention and relaxation.
• The wellness and mindfulness industry often quantifies calm and relaxation, paradoxically intensifying pressure.
• Slow gaming resists this by fostering unproductive, goal-free play.

Quote [27:00]:
“[Mindfulness apps] are kind of the opposite of Zen, because in Zen you have no goals… But in these mindfulness apps, we are quantifying relaxation, we are being productive in being calm.”
— Victor

• Video games are part of ongoing societal struggles over time, rest, attention, and wellbeing.

7. Future Directions for Game Studies and Design (30:03)

• Hopes the book widens the field’s understanding of what constitutes a video game
  • Emphasizes the need to discuss “style”
  • Encourages more in-depth case studies and game analyses
• Encourages interrogation of hybridity, margins (like tabletop RPGs), and neglected design elements like “dead time”
• Challenges listeners to question and expand how slow/reflective elements are present (or absent) in games and franchises

Quote [33:26]:
“I hope that people agree that this reflective style has been kind of a parallel reality since the early days of the medium... I think Dead Time needs more analysis and more, let's say, exploration.”
— Victor

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the evolution of terms:
  "Names for me are ways to discuss something, to identify what's taking place, but they are not fixed in place… Ideas have a moment in time and they change and they evolve." (09:50, Victor)

• On the joy of discovery and the spirit of game studies:
  "Enjoying it? Yes, if people read the book and think that it has been provocative in some way and… as game scholars and players, I would be happy. I'm not that ambitious." (35:24, Victor)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:33: Victor introduces himself & his research background
• 06:51: Defining reflective games and choice of terminology
• 11:15: History: Zen modes vs. slow gaming
• 16:19: What slow/reflective games uniquely offer
• 21:09: “Dead time” as central design element
• 25:14: Slow gaming, wellbeing, and the attention economy
• 30:03: Hopes for the field and future research directions
• 35:40: Closing thanks and final remarks

Tone and Language

The conversation is reflective, nuanced, and open—mirroring the themes of Victor’s book. Both speakers frequently joke about feeling old, reference personal teaching experiences, and maintain an accessible, thoughtful conversational style. Victor’s passion for both critical inquiry and the pleasures of slow play shines throughout.

Summary Takeaways

• Reflective/slow games are not just “lesser” action games but offer distinct styles, design philosophies, and forms of player engagement.
• “Dead time” and other meditative design features are historically rooted, relevant, and understudied.
• Slow and reflective styles challenge dominant narratives in gaming and connect to broader cultural currents—resisting acceleration, workification, and the pressures of the attention economy.
• There is a need for richer appreciation of “style” in describing and analyzing games, and for more detailed case studies of slowness and reflectiveness in game design.

For scholars, designers, students, or curious players, this episode makes a strong case for thinking—slowly—about how games can shape not just what we do, but how we feel, think, and attend.