Key findings

• Older stories provide insight into the mentalities of the past, and video game developers have used this entertainment potential to their advantage.
• Hades allows players to escape the underworld with the help of divine relatives, weapons from different cultures, and mythological encounters.
• The Warriors series takes historical events such as the Three Kingdoms and Warring States periods and transforms them into action-packed gameplay.

The past and the stories that arise from it have the potential to be entertaining and informative. Even the occasional consumption of an older story can give one insight into the mentality of that time. The entertainment potential gained from the past has not escaped video game developers.

Various series tend to draw heavily from history or stories that have evolved from it as a reference point, often rewriting it with an emphasis on entertainment. Regardless, this altered basis of actual events can be both an entry point into studying actual historical knowledge and a fun Easter egg for someone who is already more knowledgeable about the subject.

5 Hades

Greek mythology reinterpreted

If you haven’t picked up this popular roguelite yet despite everyone talking about it, then take this article as a sign to do so. The game stars Zagreus, a son of the titular Hades, who is trying to escape the underworld. He does so with the literal blessing of his divine relatives, which further enhances his abilities. He can wield a variety of infernal weapons, aspects of which he can unlock that are rooted in cultures other than Greece.

He also crosses paths with a number of mythological figures, such as the Minotaur, Charon, and his own dog Cerberus. Zagreus can also form relationships with various characters, some of which even become romantic. Although Zagreus can escape the underworld for short periods of time, he is always drawn back. The adventure is more about building connections with the people within and improving your own individual skills. This adds a lot of variety to the game, which essentially only consists of four levels. The sequel Hades2is currently available in an early access version on Steam.

4 Assassin’s Creed

Unique blend of fiction

Assassin’s Creed presents the story as a struggle between the Order of Assassins and the Knights Templar, with the former favoring free will over the latter’s need for control as a means to peace. The series uses stealth as its main mechanic with RPG elements, although certain parts have been criticized for leaning too heavily into the RPG genre. The different parts are set in different points in time, from Ptolmean Egypt to the present day. In most parts, characters from the present are made to relive the experiences of previous characters, who tend to use them for their various goals.

The characters are then led through reinterpreted versions of the past, influenced by the involvement of the Assassins and the Templars. The upcoming installment, Shadowwill take place during the Sengoku period in Japan.

3 The Chronicles of the Great Ace Attorney

Sherlock Holmes meets Phoenix Wright

The Ace Lawyer The series is an entertaining series of visual novels in which lawyers solve crimes to find the culprits and, more importantly, exonerate their clients. Phoenix Wright, the series’ original star, is one of the most successful in this regard, using his crime-solving skills as well as his penchant for turning over cases to find the truth. However, some critics lament what they see as the formulaic nature of the series, especially in its later stages.

Perhaps in response, The Chronicles of the Great Ace Attorney proves that the series format still has potential for expansion. This duology is set in Victorian-era London at the turn of the century, as well as Meiji-period Japan. During this time, a young university student in Japan was falsely accused of the murder of a foreign professor. That student is Ryunosuke Naruhodo, an ancestor of Phoenix Wright. Naruhodo proves to be a skilled debater, which convinces his friend Kazuma Asogi, himself a young lawyer, to smuggle him to England, where he will train as a criminal defense attorney. Naruhodo is also assisted by Susato Mikotoba, his more erudite co-counsel, and Herlock Sholmes, a quirky English detective who uses anachronistic inventions and abductive reasoning to solve cases.

This prequel to the historical Ace Lawyer The series removes certain core elements of the series while expanding on others to provide a relatively unique experience overall. It loosely adapts certain narrative elements from the Sherlock Holmes stories and combines these with a historical look at the persecution the Japanese faced in England. It also features Japanese novelist and scholar Sōseki Natsume, best known for writing I am a catas one of Naruhodo’s defendants.

2 The Warriors series

Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and Orochi Warriors

The History of the Three Kingdoms was a novel from the 14th century, which in turn was based on Records of the Three Kingdoms from the 3rd century. Both works, the first a partially fictional novel and the second a historical document, revolved around the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in China. This centuries-old telephone game continued into the modern era with Tecmo Koei’s own adaptation of the novel as a turn-based strategy game. From there, it was adapted into the Dynasty Warrior series, a beat-em-up in which various characters from the Three Kingdoms period are playable, often claiming territory and taking on thousands of weaker enemies.

Dynasty Warrior also received a sister series, Samurai Warriorwhich instead focused on the Warring States period in Japan. Both games have a lot in common and don’t go as far with the aspect of historical accuracy, which is largely sacrificed for entertainment. Examples include a greater variety of weapons than was available back then, a greater role for women in combat, and wider anachronisms such as certain warriors participating in historical battles where they weren’t present.

The crossover series, Warrior Orochitakes this to the extreme by pitting warriors from these different time periods against each other, with the mythology of the Eastern world becoming increasingly prominent and emphasized. This is expanded upon in later games by bringing characters from other video game series (some of which are loosely adapted from history) and even Greek and Norse mythology into the franchise.

1 Bookworm Adventures 1+2

A literary retrospective

Few could have predicted the direction the simple puzzle word game would take with its sequel. The original Bookworm is a fairly simple word game where Lex always matches adjacent letters to win. Certain tiles are more useful in spelling, while others are harmful if left unattended. Bookworm adventure takes this premise and implements it in a game with many other RPG-based elements.

Here, Lex roams through various subgenres of literature from the past, taking on various characters that represent them. He does this by spelling words using a predetermined set of letters from a grid. The longer a word is, the more damaging it is to Lex’s opponents. Since a grid consists of 16 letters, this is the maximum that can be used in a given word at once. As Lex completes each level, he receives a new treasure that can be of use to him in his journeys to come. In addition, Lex gains experience with each enemy he defeats.

The levels are divided into more specific categories, such as a subset of Greek mythology that focuses on enemies at sea, such as Scylla, Charybdis, and the Kraken. The first Bookworm adventures focus on Greek mythology, One Thousand and One Nightsand Gothic literature. The sequel focuses on Western fairy tales (half of which Alice in Wonderland), Chinese mythology, and futuristic literature. The sequel also adds companion characters who can help Lex with useful skills. Both games have an irreverent sense of humor that adds to their charm. Unfortunately, both games are pretty hard to come by these days.