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History
 

Video games are sometimes criticised for pillaged historical cultural contexts as places to pitch their shooting battles. Many games do treat historic periods or military battles to embellish the visuals without realism.

There are, however, all sorts of games that use history as more than window dressing. This might be something as simple as accurately creating period-appropriate weapons and uniforms, like in War Thunder or Enlisted. This might also be offering the player to experience battles not from the perspective of the victors. Or, like in This War of Mine, what it was like for those caught up in conflict as civilians.

Beyond warfare, games offer a wide array of accurate depictions of different civilisations and eras. Through the Darkest of Times is a strategy game that conveys the sombre mood of the dark period of history between January 1933 and May 1945. The Forgotten City is a mystery adventure set in the final days of a cursed Roman city. Treasures of the Aegean is a Tin Tin-style tomb raiding adventure game with a surprisingly accurate bronze age Aegean civilisation.

There are other games that introduce historical techniques and tools. In Heaven’s Vault you play an archaeologist translating an ancient alien language whose decrypting weaves through an unfolding drama. In Return of the Obra Dinn you revisit the moment of death of 60 sailors on an ancient ship and use evidence to piece together their identity and what happened.

Other games recreate a time period's architecture and culture so you can explore it first-hand. Discovery Tour is a special mode that uses the worlds created for the main Assassin’s Creed games to offer a historical exploration experience. Discovery Tour: Viking Age is set in Britain and Norway, around 870 AD. It sheds light on the Viking era and allows players to discover more about the history and traditions of the time. Raji: An Ancient Epic is a running and jumping puzzle game drawing on Hindu and Balinese history. Taking inspiration from tales like Mahabharata and Ramayana you play a young girl named Raji who is chosen by the gods to defend the human race.

There are even games that help players appreciate the scale of history and time. Deep Time Walk is a game where you go for a walk as you listen to a history of the earth that's tied to each step. The game calculates your speed and distance to match your real-world progress and translates it to a journey across 4.6bn years of time, taking in every key evolutionary event as they occur.
 
This list includes 51 games from the last 26 years, with 492 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to understand the past.

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Assassin's Creed Discovery Tour is a special mode that uses the worlds created for the main Assassin’s Creed games to offer an educational exploration experience.

Assassin's Creed Discovery Tour is a special mode that uses the worlds created for the main Assassin’s Creed games to offer an educational exploration experience. It is available both as a free part of the original games and as a standalone purchase.

Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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