History Game Guide

by Jack Le Moine

These games have become a new medium for delivering knowledge of history. One can experiment with different strategies and thereby get an idea of what the actual trade-offs the people of history faced. Here are some of my favorite games.

First, I have found the online service Steam to be my gaming hub. In the past, I bought games on disks at stores. Trouble is, the disks wore out and when they did not, the publishers had these copy-protection schemes that limited use. When a computer wore out and I wanted to transfer my games to the new one, the protection schemes wore me out. Either the password codes got lost in my closet or they did not work on the new computer. Many times the disk games were not compatible with the new operating systems and I had to go searching the developers’ websites for patches. Sometimes, the developers have either gone inactive or had just stopped supporting their old games. With Steam, one can purchase the game once and then download it as many times as one wishes (mostly). Pertinent info including codes and manuals are collected in one place.

Favorite all-round history game: the Civilization franchise. As of this writing they are up to Civilization VI. In this game one takes control of one civilization and guides it through time. Major aspects of history are addressed: political, military, science, infrastructure, and culture. Exploring the world and then inter-acting with other civilizations plays a big part in this game. One inter-acts by diplomacy, economics, and war. Religious history is not neglected either, though the medium of gaming does not do this category of history well.

Favorite real-time strategy game: Rise of Nations. This is an oldie but goodie. While Civ is a turn-based game, things keep happening all the time in RTS games. At the end of the game, one has so many units to keep track of, the game becomes unwieldy. Otherwise, it has the same theme as Civilization: take control of a civilization and guide it from the beginning to the present of history.

Europa Universalis is the flagship game of a series which is a category unto itself. One take control of a country and guides it through a period of time. The play is based on a historical-based map. It is a hybrid of tb and rts games as the player pauses the game to analyze reports and make moves and orders building construction, unit recruiting, unit movement and other actions. When unpaused, the game carries out the player’s orders. The EU game covers the period from the late Middle Ages to the End of Napoleon. Victoria (and Vic II) takes up history from that point to the end of World War I. Hearts of Iron (through HOI 4) takes up history from that point to the early Cold War.

Crusader Kings (and CK II) is part of the EU series but unlike the rest of the games in that series, the player controls a dynasty instead of a country. So, while the map and the game-controls are much the same as the other games in that series, the play is very different. It is more of a role-playing game than a country-expansion game. It covers the Dark and the Middle Ages.

The Total War games are an interesting hybrid. Like the other Civilization kind of games, one takes control of a country and then tries to expand it. They are turn-based until two forces clash and a battle occurs. Then the player can have the computer resolve the battle quickly and automatically, according to the relative strengths of the forces involved, or the player can choose to fight the battle on a rts battlefield. Some players regard a Total War game as a rts game with short interludes of tb while I play them as tb games with rts battles as a distraction from the main game. My favorite of the series is Empires which covers the 18th. century.

Favorite military history game: Rise of Prussia from Ageod. While other history games have warfare as part of the game, the Ageod games are all military games and hence, they do the best job. I like that each game concentrates on one war, or like ROP one limited series of wars so that each game can do a better job of simulating its subject. ROP covers the wars of Frederick the Great. While I don’t think that he was so great, the suspense of him fighting off all those enemies in the Seven Years War delivers an experience like watching an old Hitchcock movie.

Favorite space game: Kerbal Space Program with the historical missions add-on. Yes, Kerbal is a fictional planet. The developers used the fictional solar system to model the physics of space exploration within the confines of a PC game. The player has to design rockets, fly them, and then maneuver the astronauts on their EVA missions. Then the player has to land then back on Kerbal.

Favorite Children’s Game: Sid Meier’s Pirates! The player takes on the role of a pirate or a privateer during the late 17th. century in the Caribbean. The game has ship combat, dueling, dancing with the governor’s daughter and land battles. The player encounters famous pirates to defeat and also hunt for their treasure. Throw in tasks like ship maintenance and upgrading and you have an awful lot for a children’s game. The player finds oneself taking all of this on gradually while also learning the geography of the region and the politics of the era. Come to think of it, I have logged many hours playing this as an adult!

Yes, I have left out a lot of good games from this guide. Any of the games on this list will take hours from your life, though.

What is your favorite history-themed game? Comment below.