Adventure games for history lovers

[Binky]

In its own funny way, I wonder whether Police Quest might feel like a historical game now.

Broken Sword is not really a "historical" game, though, it's a game about uncovering history. Most of the suggestions in this thread are not really on point for that. I would say that the Gabriel Knight series would be a good option, maybe also Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, maybe The Dagger of Amon-Ra.

If you are ok with the game being about future history, then you might enjoy that recent Inkle game the name of which is escaping me; people say it's good, and it's basically about being a xenohistorian. You might also enjoy The Dig in the same vein.

Historical games?

Thread title:

Adventure games for history lovers

 

[Jvegi]

There was one set in Egypt I played as a kid, will get back to you with a name

Also:

and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec:_The_Curse_in_the_Heart_of_the_City_of_Gold

 

[Life of the Party]

The Last Express is one of the finest games ever. Just pure triumph of a game.

The Path of the Dragon is almost surprisingly good. I loved the first two (Dracula: Resurrection and Dracula II: The Last Sanctuary) as a kid but this one is probably the best in the series. The atmosphere is flawless. Rural Transylvania at its most vampiric.

Spoiler

 

[JarlFrank]

Mario's Time Machine

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Oh, there was also that Detective Di game that came out a few years ago. I think it has a reputation for being Unavowed levels of easy though.

 

[Jack]

Edit: Jack, please feel free to list any games that might fall into this particular niche.

Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure featured a wigger Vlad and that is quite more than enough.

 

[bddevil]

The Last Express is an amazing game that should be played by everyone...THIS is where the gameplay in adventures shouldve gravitated towards, instead of fake telltale choices

on topic, all the Sherlock Holmes games put together make for a nice map of London and I'm pretty sure I can tell the type of cobblestone on Baker street

 

[J_C]

Age of Decadence.

 

[RuySan]

Did anyone recommend "The riddle of Master Lu" already?

The only problem with the game is that there was no subtitles, and it was a bit hard. Besides that I remember it being quite good. I probably still have the nice big box at my parents house

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

To add a few not mentioned:
SPQR, a knock-off of Cryo's efforts.
Inca, weird, weird, weird. (Coktel Vision did a few other kinda historical games, but I've never touched them)
Wrath of the Gods, a educational game about Greek Mythology
Historian, another educational game, this one by the makers of Bioscopia and Physicus. Never made it outside of Germany.
A few questionable ones:
Shadow of the Comet, set during the '20s, but has the worst movement system thought of by mankind.
Azrael's Tear, some weird shooter/adventure game hybrid that I think had something to do with the history of King Arthur.
Mortalus: The Quest for Immortality, a really strange Myst-clone with combat that is...it makes Inca look normal.

 

[Jvegi]

Was Titanic: Adventure Out of Time already mentioned?

 

[Smoker]

The Pillars of The Earth:
12th century, England: In a time of poverty and war, a small town begins the construction of a cathedral to claim wealth and safety for its people. In their struggle to survive, lives and destinies intertwine

People avoided this because of "Pillars" right?

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

The Pillars of The Earth:
12th century, England: In a time of poverty and war, a small town begins the construction of a cathedral to claim wealth and safety for its people. In their struggle to survive, lives and destinies intertwine

People avoided this because of "Pillars" right?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I avoided it because Ken Follett is a hack who makes Diana Gabaldon look like Hillary Mantel.

 

[Jvegi]

Just watch the show. The game is barely a game.

 

[Monolith]

Well, there's this museum game people keep talking about: https://bit.ly/2AIib9q

Supposed to be good.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I have to second "The Last Express" (the original, not the modernized shit). In my opinion this is the most immersive recreation of not only the Orient Express but of the last years of the Fin de Siècle with its hopes and illusions and finally the outbreak of the Great War. A masterpiece of narration if there ever was one. Brillant characters, many historical details to discover, an intriguing story, so much room for exploration, and the great illusion of freedom of movement in a seemingly real-time, living, independent microcosm where every character you encounter feels so incredibly real. (In my memory there were only two games that experimented with similar real-time gameplay: "The Case of the Cautious Condor" and "Murder Makes Strange Bedfellows").

I'll also second "Pillars of the Earth". I never read the book(s) and probably never will. But this game is outstanding in creating a believable medieval world without clichés and full of character. The graphical representation is simply brillant, I've never seen such beautiful graphics in an adventure before. But while many Daedalic games have great graphics I found most of them to be very dull otherwise. That wasn't the case with "Pillars" though. It tells its story in a very gripping way and feels very believable. Puzzles are not really difficult but "Pillars" is something that has to be experienced rather than played.

I'd also like to recommend "Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo". This game is extremely detailed in portraying the Victorian era by explaining you even the most mundane things like street lamps in the context of its time, if you want to know it. You can click at almost every insignificant detail and get background information. It really manages to evoke a very convincing historical atmosphere and I found it to be the strongest of all Sherlock Holmes games in this respect.

I'd also really recommend many of the adventures by Kheops Interactive: "Dracula Path of the Dragon" and "Egypt III" were already mentioned. There is also "Cleopatra", "Da Vinci", "Nostradamus" and "Echo". There is much historical content presented in an elaborated way in these games and they are very educative in my opinion. Unfortunately some of these games have been butchered by the cretins of Big Fish, so be sure to get the original versions.

 

[ValeVelKal]

A Golden Wake, about the US (esp. Florida) in the 20ies and 30ies. Highly recommend

https://store.steampowered.com/app/307570/A_Golden_Wake/

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Maybe Abbey of Crime? Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco in game form, essentially.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/474030/The_Abbey_of_Crime_Extensum/

Had no idea the classic La abadia del crimen, had a remake.

This one is brillant. Some of the best pixelart I've ever seen in my life. You even recognize the actors from the movie version. And the soundtrack is very atmospheric. I can wholeheartedly recommend this fan-work. A very faithful and dedicated remake. And for free.

The Path of the Dragon is almost surprisingly good. I loved the first two (Dracula: Resurrection and Dracula II: The Last Sanctuary) as a kid but this one is probably the best in the series. The atmosphere is flawless. Rural Transylvania at its most vampiric.

This game is indeed of a very high quality, but not surprisingly so, as Kheops is really strong in creating atmospheric games with high authenticity. What I find the most astounding thing about PotD is that it tells a story on three different historical eras: The late medieval time of Vlad III., the late 19th century of Bram Stoker and the post-war 1920ies Romania of protagonist Arno. By using (pseudo-)historical documents and cultural reference points it manages to create a very tight atmosphere and feels very realistic. And it's so full of details: Where else do you have a full latin (!) bible in your inventory (you can read it from beginning to end) or the full Dracula-novel of Bram Stoker? You have to use historical coding machines to decode messages and to dig deep into ancient documents to learn about Dracula (documents that do indeed exist - like the "Geschicht Dracole Waide" by Behaim - but are altered in the game). There are even some "side-quest"-like puzzles you can solve in this game which have absolutely no influence on the main story but help enhancing the atmosphere.

 

[Zann]

A Golden Wake, about the US (esp. Florida) in the 20ies and 30ies. Highly recommend

https://store.steampowered.com/app/307570/A_Golden_Wake/

Top notch atmosphere, but as much a game as Unavowed.

 

[ValeVelKal]

So for fan of history rather than history games, I recommand :

- The totally crazy « Four Last Things »
- The 1830-France-but-with-birds-instead-of-humans Aviary Attorney

 

[Victor1234]

Great thread! I've played all the Roman ones, Versailles 1685 and The Last Express. There was also one not on the list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_Phantom

It's a shame more fiction wasn't adapted to games back when it was a popular genre.

 

[Rincewind]

I love these French studios, Kheops, Cryo Interactive, Delphine, Cocktel Vision, Infogrames, Cyanide, Artefacts, even early Ubisoft was really good. They definitely brought a different, more artful approach and flavour to games than their American counterparts. Gross overgeneralisation, I know, but there's something to it — French games have always been more experimental, and those small studios were less infected by the American "profit above anything else" sickness.

 

[Victor1234]

I love these French studios, Kheops, Cryo Interactive, Delphine, Cocktel Vision, Infogrames, Cyanide, Artefacts, even early Ubisoft was really good. They definitely brought a different, more artful approach and flavour to games than their American counterparts. Gross overgeneralisation, I know, but there's something to it — French games have always been more experimental, and those small studios were less infected by the American "profit above anything else" sickness.

I also liked how they worked closely with real experts to give the games extra polish. The Versailles game had a collaboration with museums who helped them do a reconstruction of buildings that burned down in the 1700's, the Roman one in Pompeii was done together with historians, etc.

Not just the usual blurbs about how this random guy got a free lunch so we can put it in the credits that historians worked on our game, but actual input.