Over his illustrious career, Jacob Geller has written and produced a sprawling collection of video essays. Deftly interweaving video game analysis with complex narratives about art, politics, and history, Geller’s work positions games as vital tools for understanding each other and ourselves. How a Game Lives re-examines ten of Geller’s most iconic essays accompanied by his brand-new commentary, afterwords on each piece by some of the industry’s best writers, and stunning original artwork by Kilian Eng and other exceptional artists.
With videos like “Who’s Afraid of Modern Art”, “Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda”, and “The Legacy of the Haunted House”, Geller has taught audiences how to think about the art that’s affected them. How a Game Lives immortalises those works and more, and provides boundless insight into the construction, philosophy, and afterlife of each essay.
Volume
How a Game Lives: The Annotated Essays of Jacob Geller
Works
How a Game Lives
Specification
Hardcover Book
245 x 305 mm
250+ Pages
Author: Jacob Geller
Designer: Annie Maynard
Deluxe Edition
Hardcover book
245 x 305 mm
Section sewn binding
256+ pages approx.
Signed by Jacob Geller (limited to first 300 orders)
Backer name in book (limited to first 300 orders)
Die-cut and embossed slipcase
Deluxe box with holo foil detail
7-inch Vinyl Record (original tracks by Seth Boyer, Katie Dey, Kilian Flowers, and The Parasitoid Wasps)
Bookmark with holo foil details
A4 “Kilian Eng” Art Print
3 A5 Art Prints
Release Date
Estimated Q1 2025
The Book
How a Game Lives is an annotated anthology of essays spanning Jacob Geller’s body of work. This is the first time the text of his videos has been publicly available – but the book contains far more than scripts. Each essay is accompanied by additional context on Geller’s writing process, additional analysis of the original topic, and reflections on how he and the culture have changed in the months or years since its initial video release.
The annotated essays are introduced by original thematic artwork in a range of mediums including collage, canvas, and photography. Punctuating the book are afterwords from a slate of renowned authors including award-winning novelist Jamil Jan Kochai, who contemplates “Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything?”; esteemed YouTube essayist Noah Caldwell-Gervais, who weighs in on “Fear of Cold”; and Gareth Damian Martin, designer of the hit game Citizen Sleeper, who unravels “The Legacy of the Haunted House.”
The book also features a foreword by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, the National Book Award-nominated author of “Chain-Gang All-Stars” and “Friday Black”.
Deluxe Edition
The hardcover Deluxe Edition of How a Game Lives is sheathed in a beautiful red slipcase with embossed details from Kilian Eng’s cover landscape and die-cut slots reminiscent of ancient runes. The Deluxe Edition comes with a 7-inch vinyl record featuring four songs written specifically for Geller’s video essays, including “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “The Kraken.”
Also included in the edition is a bookmark with holo foil details, an A4 Art Print of Eng’s phenomenal cover art, and three additional A5 Art Prints showing off uniquely commissioned illustrations from inside the book. All of these exclusive extras will be enclosed within a deluxe box with runic holo foil detailing.
The first 300 Deluxe Editions sold will come with a custom bookplate attached to the inside cover and signed by Jacob Geller, with early backers also having their names listed in the interior of the book.
Deluxe Edition exclusive to this limited 60-day campaign.
Slipcase
Our red card slipcase features both embossed detailing taken from Kilian Eng’s craggy, apocalyptic landscapes as well as die-cut slots – beneath which Eng’s vibrant panorama peers out – which mimic the kind of ancient runes seen in the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Fumito Ueda.
7-inch Vinyl Record
Continuing with the runic motif, the Deluxe Edition includes an exclusive 7-inch Vinyl Record that comes in a vibrant red die-cut sleeve. With tracks written specifically for Geller’s video essays by artists including Katie Dey and Seth Boyer, this is the first time these songs have been available on physical media.
Deluxe Box
The deluxe How A Game Lives box with lift-off lid houses the hardcase book and slipcase as well as all other extras included with the Deluxe Edition. Echoing our slipcase design, we have holographic foil details on the box front.
Kilian Eng A2 / large-format Print
Limited edition A2 (large-format) Gallery Print by renowned artist Kilian Eng, who produced our stunning original How A Game Lives book cover.
Our large prints use Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm stock, which has a tactile feel and fine surface texture, providing excellent reproduction of colour and detail, with deep blacks and optimum contrasts.
Limited to 250 copies
Kilian Eng A4 Print
Proudly display artist Kilian Eng’s beautiful apocalyptic landscape – inspired by the crumbling and ruined worlds of Hayao Miyazaki and Fumito Ueda, and produced for our How A Game Lives book cover.
Bookmark
Checkpoint your place in How A Game Lives with this campaign-exclusive bookmark with runic holographic foil details.
3D renders and animations by Patrick Crotty