Existential video games: Proposal and evaluation of an interactive reflection about death.

•This paper introduces the concept of existential video games (EXGs).•We propose an EXG, called Existence, aimed at encouraging reflections about mortality.•We carried out an in-depth qualitative study of users’ experience with Existence.•Results show that Existence was able to elicit death reflection in users.•It also evoked a wide range of emotions that are consistent with predictions of theories in social psychology.