Video games based on important historical events take you back in time, ensuring that you fall in love with the subject! Historical video games allow players to become active participants in some of the most pivotal periods in human history. Unlike history textbooks, these games provide enormous experiences that cannot be matched by written content. Here are some of the video games based on important historical events that bring history to life!
1. The Oregon Trail
Game Release Year: 1971
Historical Time Period: 1846–1869
The Oregon Trail is a famous computer game intended to teach youngsters about the hard realities of pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. In The Oregon Trail, players will assume a wagon commander attempting to cross the legendary Trail.
They’ll start in Independence, Missouri, and conclude in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. The game depicts how different classes could travel the Oregon Trail, with a banker having more money and hence more resources than a farmer. It was not uncommon for a group member to become ill and die, and this is no exception in the game.
The fear of wild Native Americans was exaggerated in the imaginations of actual travelers, and this was replicated in the computer game characters. Native Americans would emerge out of nowhere in the game to attack the travelers.
2. Victoria II
Game Release Year: 2010
Historical Time Period: 1836–1936
The Industrial Revolution is more than just a transition from agriculture to industry. The Industrial Revolution sparked a boom in literacy and complex concepts like communism, labor laws, and universal suffrage. Victoria II allows gamers to experience the entire revolution.
Victoria II has a greater focus on internal control than on warfare. This is a massive geopolitical simulation in which you assume command of any state you choose at the start of the Victorian era in 1836 and govern it in real-time for the next century.
It will take the gamers on a virtual visit back in time where they will learn the historical events and take decisions that will help them visualize possible historical alternatives.
3. Genghis Khan II
Game Release Year: 1992
Historical Time Period: 1184 AD – 1274 AD
Genghis Khan II is a turn-based grand strategy game featuring tactical and strategic phases. The strategy phase focuses on state-building, economic improvement, and diplomacy, while the tactics phase focuses on turn-based warfare between various forces.
There are four time periods covered in the game. Starting from the conquest of Mongolia, the transformation of Genghis Khan, the birth of the Yuan Dynasty to the conquest of the world. Aside from Genghis Khan, gamers can choose from various leaders from surrounding regions in North Africa, Asia, and even Europe.
4. Battlefield Germany
Game Release Year: 1987
Historical Time Period: 1955–1991
Battlefield Germany is a strategic video game with turn-based gameplay. The game takes place in a hypothetical scenario in which powers of NATO and the Warsaw Pact engage a military conflict across Europe, focusing on West and East Germany.
Based on whatever party was selected, the gamer will enter the play on either side of Europe. When playing as NATO, the primary goal is to keep Soviet forces pinned down long enough for American assistance to come. When fighting as the Warsaw Pact, however, the goal is to eliminate all NATO troops. The game allows the player to view both sides of a significant historical event which is an integral part of any history lesson.
5. 1979 Revolution: Black Friday
Game Release Year: 2016
Historical Time Period: 1978 (Iranian Revolution)
1979 Revolution: Black Friday allows gamers to see the upheavals through the eyes of a photographer who is witnessing the Iranian Revolution. Throughout the game, the player makes timed responses that determine the plot’s fate.
The game developers took hundreds of interviews with Iranians who experienced the revolution. Gamers may get history education through authentic pictures and audio recordings, in addition to picking their own journey in the game to find alternative narratives. By the end of the game, it feels like you experienced the Iranian revolution firsthand.
6. Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Game Release Year: 2014
Historical Time Period: 1914 (World War I)
Valiant Hearts is a riveting and eye-opening story of the numerous hardships people endured during the Great War. Valiant Hearts is, at its core, a puzzle game set against the backdrop of a gripping tale. In this game, four characters assist a German soldier in finding his true love.
Valiant Hearts is a unique game. It encompasses a magnificent experience that will warm your heart while also educating you about history. Collectibles from World War I are scattered throughout each level, and locating them reveals detailed descriptions of the object. Each level is organized by a useful chronology and events overview, and each page provides more historical knowledge, statistics, and critical events from WWI.
7. The Saboteur
Game Release Year: 2009
Historical Time Period: 1940 (World War II)
The player plays Sean Devlin the Saboteur, a street-tough Irish car racer stuck behind enemy territory in Nazi-occupied France in the 1940s. Sean battles through expansive Paris, slipping into the core of Nazi activities and disrupting their every move, driven by personal vengeance.
This game is unlike any other historical simulation of World War II. Instead of playing the game through the eyes of a soldier, you get to be a spy. Sean Devlin, the protagonist, is modeled on William Grover-Williams’ true story. While the Nazis took his life, his legacy helped lay the groundwork for France’s independence.
These games based on significant historical events aren’t experiences that will offer you a completely accurate representation of a historical period, but they will give you a sense of the era’s settings, culture, politics, military, and other aspects. These games have created a fantastic experience based on a solid historical foundation.
It’s just enough to give you a sense of critical historical events and lure you towards history. Once you develop a budding interest in the subject, you can explore the era or the personality that inspired you the most!