Over the past two decades, research on games and learning has revealed how well-designed play can foster cognitive development, motivation, and behavioural change across education, health, and even justice systems. Yet as the world faces escalating disinformation, polarisation, and social fragmentation, the field must evolve. This talk reflects on what we have learned about how games cultivate thinking and skill - and argues that the next frontier lies in designing for shared understanding, critical discernment, and civic imagination. Games for learning must now help rebuild the very social fabric that enables learning, trust, and democracy itself.