Contrary to popular belief, children don’t need to be wasting time when they spend hours on their laptops or consoles. The video games based in historical times make the children learn a lot by playing them. So the children get to do what they love while staying educational!
Most people consider history to be not so interesting. Here at History Adventures, we ensure that it is anything but that! We make exploring history exciting and adventurous. What better way to do that than play video games while expanding your historic arena?
As video gaming evolved into a multibillion-dollar market, historians have started to recognize the significance of video games as valid historical materials. However, this did happen over a long period. As time passed, video games also changed. Here are examples of the best history video games through the years!
The Oregon Trail 1985
The first set of instructional video games on the market began with The Oregon Trail on the Apple II by (MECC). It was created to educate kids about the reality of pioneer life on the Oregon Trail in the nineteenth century. If you attended middle school in the 1980s, you’d undoubtedly recall The Oregon Route.
In the videogame, the player takes on the role of a wagon captain leading a group of immigrants via covered wagon from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon’s Willamette Valley in 1848. While playing, it provides plenty of interesting facts about the real-life path.
Since there are so many possibilities, such as picking your wagon leader’s occupation and taking alternative routes, you may play the game several times before becoming bored of the terrain.
Crusader Kings 2004
Crusader Kings may transport players to the early Middle Ages, but the design emphasis remains firmly on actual history. While casual players may be overwhelmed, you will enjoy Crusader Kings’ close attention to detail and enormous grandeur if you are a history buff.
Crusader Kings is a dynasty simulation that centers on a character whose primary objective is to build and develop their kingdom. The player must manage their dynasty’s familial, financial, tactical, political, and religious matters over four centuries in this game.
The Crusader Kings series is set mainly in Europe during the Middle Ages. History’s most significant figures, including William the Conqueror, Ivar the Boneless, and Genghis Khan, have appeared in the series.
Europa Universalis 4 (2013)
Released in 2013, Europa Universalis tops any gamer’s list. This is mainly because of how it has been designed to start historically with real-time occurrences. The players can control a nation from the Late Middle Ages through the early modern period (1444 to 1821 AD) in this strategy game.
The game is a dynamic map of the world split into provinces that make up countries. You must rule a country by striking a balance between warfare, politics, and finances. You are supposed to do this by making decisions as the ruler of their country and allocating the resources available.
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2018
Warhorse Studios’ Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a role-playing action game. The emphasis throughout the match was on authenticity. The small ways Warhorse conveys the illusion of living in the Late Middle Ages show best in its narrative of struggle and betrayal.
It is based in the ancient Kingdom of Bohemia. This Imperial State of the Holy Roman Empire was also known as the Czech Kingdom. Despite the game’s enormous open world, the creators ensured that the landscape was populated with factually authentic weaponry, personalities, and structures.
To stay healthy, players must feed, drink, and rest. Moreover, with time, weapons, clothes, and perishable food degrade, so be careful about that!
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 2020
The Assassins Creed franchise has brought gamers to a few of history’s most iconic times. From Renaissance Italy in the fifteenth century through the American Revolution in the 1700s to Classical Egypt’s Ptolemaic era.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a game situated in 872–878 AD, released in 2020. It covers the time during the Viking invasions of the British Isles, shown through a fiction that you will surely enjoy. Valhalla does a fantastic job presenting people, ideas, and themes while challenging us to figure out how Eivor, the protagonist, relates to them.
You will get to assume command of Eivor Varinsdottir: a Viking warrior caught up in a decades-old struggle between the Assassin Brotherhood, who battle for harmony and freedom, and the Templar Order, who desires peace through power.
In the words of James Paul Gee
If you’re still not persuaded that games can help you learn history, consider what the ‘godfather’ of Game-Based Learning (GBL) has to say. James Paul Gee is well-versed in the subject, due to his extensive academic study on efficient learning approaches via video games.
For today’s youngsters, James Paul Gee presents a compelling argument for the connection between video games and education. He claims that the new literacy that emerges from gaming fosters skill mastery, responsibility, and command, all of which may be easily applied to wider educational goals.