In Episode 217 of And Now for Something Completely Machinima, we explore “Ersatz” a haunting new solo animated film by Saint Greaver created in Blender’s Eevee engine.

Set within a surreal World War I–inspired landscape, the film blends virtual production techniques with painterly concept art aesthetics to create a disturbing, dreamlike vision of war, identity, and memory. The discussion unpacks the film’s themes of replaceability, dehumanization, and institutional machinery, where bodies are interchangeable and suffering becomes routine.

Drawing on cultural memory, surrealist art traditions, and early industrial warfare imagery, the episode examines how the film communicates trauma and systemic violence without explicit politics or historical specificity.

Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, and Damien Valentine also highlight the production craft behind the film — from its stylized rendering and stop-motion-like animation feel to its exceptional voice performances and unsettling sound design. The hosts reflect on the emotional weight of the work, its historical echoes, and why its bleak, surreal horror feels both timeless and urgently relevant. A challenging but powerful viewing experience, Ersatz stands out as an important piece of animated storytelling that pushes machinima and virtual filmmaking into deeply thought-provoking territory.

Audio Only Version of this Episode

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

ERSATZ | PILOT by Saint Greaver, released 10 Jan 2026

Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, who died one week before the Armistice in WW1, is worth reading. Link here.

Here’s more about the artist Zdzislaw Beksinski –

and Francis Bacon –