Nikola Supukovic

Page against the Machine is a modification for the computer game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios, 2025) that aims to rewrite all in-game books, replacing them with notes on the media theory and the history of computing. This game is marketed as "historically accurate" but there are certain disconnects between these claims and the way contemporary popular video games are conceptualized and produced. Exploiting the properties of computational media - modularity, claims of universality, openness to bricolage – Page against the Machine directs the user's attention to the constructedness of video games, and the human traces found in computational cultures. Exposing computer games as software that can be manipulated opens the field to questions about interfering in and changing computational structures that we consider static, immutable, too powerful and beyond our reach. For this installation, the mod is exhibited in a cozy setup featuring a big screen and a PC running the game, enabling visitors to freely explore the content.