10 Most Immersive Historical Games

Summary

• Video games offer immersive experiences through historical events, adding layers of fiction to real-world facts.
• Unique games like "Empire of Sin" and "Kingdom Come: Deliverance" provide personalized experiences of historical eras.
• Through games like "Red Dead Redemption 2" and "Yakuza 0," players can explore realistic settings with attention to detail.

For many, video games are the perfect form of escapism. A good game reels you in and immerses you in the world. Eventually, you become your character, experiencing the world through their eyes. Often, that world is fantastical — a spacecraft in the furthest reaches of the galaxy or a world of mythical beasts.

The 9 Historical Wars With The Most Video Game Adaptations

The most famous conflicts in history make great material for video games - which ones have seen the most screen time?

However, the same immersive qualities can be used for digital time travel. Some games steep players in a distant (or, sometimes, not-so-distant) reality. While these worlds may sometimes add a layer of fantasy, they’re ultimately based on fact.

11 Ad Infinitum

Ghouls and abominations aside, few games capture the loneliness and tension of returning World War I veterans like Ad Infinitum. This Amnesia-esque horror title puts you in charge of a somewhat amnesiac veteran.

First World War Indie Conscript Is “An Anti-War Game”

Conscript is a survival horror that channels classics like Resident Evil but with a top-down perspective and brutal setting of the Great War.

Now, obviously, there were no multi-limbed zombie-like super soldiers or flayed, flying men in the trenches. No historical accounts mention a decrepit, screaming siren stalking Reims Cathedral. However, the game’s horror angle makes its trench scenes more palpably claustrophobic. At the same time, its tense, unnerving atmosphere in “civilian” scenes perfectly captures the sense of displacement reported by many World War I veterans.

10 A Plague Tale: Requiem

Despite its fantastical elements, A Plague Tale: Requiem — and its predecessor, A Plague Tale: Innocence — perfectly captures the paranoia and superstition surrounding the scourge of Medieval Europe. With a combination of stealth and wits, you must guide Amicia and Hugo to safety.

Its more magical elements barely mask the rich, morbid history underpinning the Plague Tale series. Both games accurately capture the thick, palpable fear permeating every street in Europe. The dark stone streets only amplify the effect, perfectly emphasizing the sense of ominous solitude of the period. For the superstitious element, look no further than the ruthless Inquisition, against whom you have little recourse.

9 Empire Of Sin

Few real-time strategy games are as uniquely compelling as Empire of Sin, which puts you in the shoes of a Prohibition Era mob boss. Armed with various types of booze, a team of scrappy underdogs, and your wits, you must defeat Chicago’s most infamous criminal masterminds and survive until 1933, the end of Prohibition.

Empire Of Sin: How To Run A Successful Speakeasy

Here's everything you need to know about creating a profitable system of speakeasies and breweries in Empire of Sin.

While many strategy games are impersonal, casting you in the role of a nameless and often indifferent leader, Empire of Sin gives you a story. Your personality and background are inspired by the rough-and-tumble upbringings of the Great Depression, propelling this strategy game to the next level of immersion.

8 L. A. Noire

L. A. Noire is a sprawling recreation of Los Angeles circa 1947. Its world is populated by period-accurate cars, weapons, and fashion. More importantly, as a detective game, it emphasizes the shadowy underbelly of post-World War II America.

It’s easy to spend hours wandering the streets as veteran and detective Cole Phelps. However, the game’s greatest strength is its plot. While the life and adventures of Phelps are fictional, the cases he investigates are rooted in fact. Moreover, as Phelps, you’ll be placed at the center of multiple historical moments, including the rise of the American mobster.

7 Tannenberg

Don’t be fooled by the multiplayer veneer. Tannenberg is a gruesome reflection of the horrors of World War I’s Eastern Front. Its grandiose battles mirror those fought in the “War to End All Wars,” while the multiplayer aspect adds true-to-life tension.

The team’s insistence on gritty realism extends to death, which is rendered in unsettling detail. Tannenberg doesn’t shy away from the gruesome chaos of the world’s first mechanized war. Its historically accurate weapons inflict equally realistic wounds. Succinctly, the bloodshed of Tannenberg is as close as you’ll get to turn-of-the-century warfare.

6 Red Dead Redemption 2

Aliens and sasquatches aside, few games can touch the dedicated realism of Red Dead Redemption 2. The Western epic charges you with the fate of Arthur Morgan, an affable outlaw in the waning days of America’s Wild West.

Rockstar’s sprawling shooter leans into its realism. You are treated to authentic portraits of America’s turn-of-the-century frontier, and you must care for Arthur appropriately. You can’t wear a light jacket in the snowy mountains of Ambarino, and you’ll overheat wearing a stylish fur-lined coat in New Austin. It’s that attention to detail that brings the game’s rugged setting to the forefront, setting the stage for a truly immersive look at the Wild West’s final gasp.

5 Yakuza 0

With the 1980s over half a century in the past, the days of disco are far enough away to be examined as history. Many games set in this period focus on large-scale conflicts and wars, but Yakuza 0 takes a different approach.

Best Yakuza Games, Ranked

If you've ever wanted to step onto the streets of Kamurocho with RGG Studios' Yakuza series, we've got each of the best games ranked right here.

While the veracity of slot-car-playing Japanese gang members cannot be confirmed, the immersive draw of Kamurocho’s amalgamated metropolitan city center is unparalleled. Kazuma Kiryu’s enthusiasm for the world’s sights is similarly compelling, pulling you further into the neon-tinged underbelly of 1980s Japan. Even Goro Majima, the eccentric deuteragonist, adds to the allure of the meticulously detailed beat-em-up’s world.

4 Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Medieval Europe is a common fantasy setting, but few games choose the realistic path. Kingdom Come: Deliverance is different; it embraces the mundane life of 15th-century Bavarian peasants. When war rips apart the picturesque pastoral region, Henry must earn his place in history as a loyal knight.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance wears its dense historical context on its sleeve. As Henry, you traverse painstaking recreations of Medieval Germany. Perhaps more importantly, you see the past for what it is: vibrant, beautiful, and alive. Few things in the game are fabrications. The development team toiled to revive a long-forgotten age of chivalry, and they succeeded.

3 Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Valiant Hearts: The Great War was originally conceived as an interactive way to celebrate the centennial anniversary of World War I. However, unlike many other war games, Valiant Hearts — and, by extension, its sequel, Valiant Hearts: Coming Home — doesn’t focus on the visceral grit of the war. Instead, this educational puzzle game emphasizes the human experience.

Its lovable, cartoony style adds to the charm. Each character is given ample room to grow, and it’s hard to not grow attached. You’ll also find many factual references and tidbits scattered throughout the carefully rendered trenches.

2 Ghost Of Tushima

It would be a crime to ignore Sucker Punch’s 2020 epic, Ghost of Tsushima. Protagonist Jin Sakai may be a fictitious figure, but the game’s underlying plot revolves around the well-documented Mongol invasion of Tsushima. Even the DLC taps into the distant past, building upon the subsequent invasion of Iki Island.

As Jin, you get an all-access pass to the past and experience the world of Kamakura Japan as a disgraced noble. The game’s world is meticulously detailed, drawing from rich recorded histories of the time. Developers also traveled to Tsushima to study its topography and archeological sites.