Best Video Games For Learning History

As a former high school history teacher, I understand the challenge of inspiring genuine enthusiasm for past events in textbooks rather than rote memorization. Happily, certain video games leverage factual storytelling and playable simulations to immerse you in eras spanning ancient Rome to World War 2 eras better than any classroom!

More than big battles and famous names, experiential games showcase political issues, daily living conditions, technological advances, and cultural perspectives across classes, genders and nationalities over decades. Determined by rigorous historical accuracy, supplementary learning resources, critical thinking opportunities and transportive atmospheres, here are 9 must-play titles to enjoy an interactive time travel trip through humanity’s journey!

Assassin’s Creed Series – Timeless Educational Escapism

Ubisoft’s headline action-adventure franchise drops players into gorgeously reconstructed open worlds ranging from Classical Greece circa 431 BCE within 2018’s Odyssey chapter to Victorian 1868 London in Syndicate. As hooded Assassins influencing major events, you rub shoulders with seminal figures like Socrates and Charles Darwin while battling rival Templars.

Beyond thrilling parkour and stealth sandbox gameplay, Assassin’s Creed brings history alive through:

• Database codex entries – 200,000 words detailing landmarks, key figures, events and concepts
• Discovery Tour modes – Combat-free tours guided by historians without pressure
• Papers Please-esque mini-games – Encrypting scytale messages in Odyssey requires understanding ancient concepts
• Archaeological puzzles – Using constellations to unlock vaults demands scientific application

Whether scrambling across Italian rooftops alongside Da Vinci or sailing to Mayan ruins, Assassin’s Creed delivers an unrivaled interactive global history trek encouraging deeper dives into favourite eras. Just don’t fully trust the Templar-authored textbooks!

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Outlaw Immersion Simulation

Rockstar’s epic open-world Western prequel centering on the Van der Linde gang as federal forces and modernization tighten the noose across 1899’s American frontier remains heralded for its stories and details bringing history to harsh life. Beyond riding horses through photorealistic New Hanover county plains to Blackwater cities, dynamic NPC conversations and newspaper headlines chronicle the era’s perspectives.

Saloon poker games and village raids exhibit:

• Economic inequality and corruption driving social divide
• Industrialization and women’s rights changes worrying traditionalists
• Racism faced by non-white citizens even in “free” Northern states
• Native American culture destruction by U.S. Army and settlers

Whether debating anarchism around the campfire or witnessing KKK rallies target minorities, RDR2 uses its vivid interactive freedom to starkly spotlight 1890s challenges regarding discrimination and justice many societies still grapple with 120 years later.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI – 4,000 Years of History Simulations

The legendary turn-based strategy franchise puts world history in your hands – literally! Guiding a customizable civilization’s journey spanning 4,000 BCE to the present day space age offers incredible insight into technological, social, cultural evolution through key decisions.

Do you sprint scientific discoveries or culture output for your people’s distinct strengths? Each playthrough unfolds dynamically impacting global politics.

Core systems like Trade Routes and Governments realistically reflect their continuing influence through the millennia regarding:

• Exchange of knowledge, resources and units between cities/nations
• Balancing citizen needs & external diplomacy priorities

New World Scenario and standalone spin-offs Civilization Revolution/Civilization Revolution 2 distill the full Civ scope into eras like Renaissance through WW2 for quicker playtimes filled with tense history shaping!

Battlefield 1 – Shockingly Realistic First World War Combat

Most high school students barely cover WWI before leaping ahead to WWII’s higher Hollywood notoriety. But DICE’s first-person shooter masterwork fills that gap with respect and unprecedented visceral detail. Strapping into biplanes to battle through French skies or charging across Mideast deserts on horseback captures early 20th century carnage.

Beyond immersive lead and iron warfare across storied fronts like Gallipoli or the Italian Alps translated to controller rumbles, the episodic War Stories highlight international unsung heroes like:

• Daring rebel Bedouin warriors surviving ruthless conditions
• Harlem Hellfighter regiments facing appalling discrimination from their own U.S. Army countrymen
• Intrepid carrier pigeon handlers dodging chemical artillery barrages

Those personal touchpoints provoke amazement (and sobering sadness) at what so many risked for abstract national ideologies dictated from far away capitals. Hard to stomach any glorification once you crash land into Battlefield 1’s pain.

While certainly no classroom replacement, thoughtfully constructed interactive historical titles like these sharing specific cultural wisdom and perspectives in motivated contexts breed valuable critical thinking and curiosity I believe sticks better than mere memorization. It takes a village – even virtual ones! – to bring the past alive.

What knowledge gaps might future games fill? Which eras intrigue you? Sound off with series suggestions below!

Valiant Hearts: The Great War – An Emotional WWI Puzzle Adventure

If Battlefield 1’s relentless combat intensity proves too intense, try Ubisoft’s poignant downloadable point-and-click adventure Valiant Hearts instead. Centered around four intersecting stories of soldiers, medics, families and even canine units assisting each other throughout World War I’s trauma between 1914-1917.

Puzzles span:

• Fleeing devastating air raids or cholera outbreaks
• Braving no man’s land to rescue injured troops
• Escaping P.O.W. camps behind enemy lines

Beyond the touching hand-drawn visuals and sentimental piano score tugging heartstrings, the game frequently stops for historical education covering:

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination igniting global tensions
• Harlem Hellfighter regiments pissing off racist U.S. commanders through battlefield successes
• Chemical warfare’s shocking erosion of human dignity

Presenting human-level stakes around The Great War’s atrocities and injustices through this adventurous narrative contextualizes catastrophic decisions by detached aristocrats justifying the “War to End All Wars” – hopefully allowing future societies to identify manipulation tactics calling for radical compassion instead.

Crusader Kings & Europa Universalis – Grand Strategy With Sweeping Scope

For armchair historians and geopolitical pundits who enjoy parsing motives of kings, nobles and revolutionaries across centuries, Paradox’s strategic role-playing franchises open endless hypotheticals letting you steer eras like medieval feudalism and Victorian imperialism.

Titles across various specialist series including:

• Europa Universalis IV – Rule competing 1400-1800 CE global superpowers amidst trade wars and colonization
• Crusader Kings III – Climb medieval Europe thrones as culture/faith complicate alliances 1000-1453 CE
• Victoria II – Manage 19th century industrial/political reform as moral philosopher kings
• Hearts of Iron IV – Marshal forces modern and arcane amidst complex WWII allegiances

Smart interface tools like ledger charts tracing power transitions and religious unrest over generations convey both forest and tree-levels of insight. Crunching numbers was never so engrossing!

With exponentially more scenarios than any textbook holds, these sandboxes encourage diving into anthropology and economic principles bridging eras. Thought experiments force weighting short and long term civic policies – do you invest in infrastructure or armies? Such simulations teach volumes about balanced leadership.

While certainly supplementary to traditional historical study rather than complete curriculum replacement, thoughtfully constructed interactive games like these with comprehensive mechanics, motivated narratives and wealths of period details incomparably bring humanity’s tapestry to life in students’ minds versus rote memorization.

Now to convince more teachers of their engagement potential as educational aids! What eras intrigue you as promising game settings? Which series handle sensitive periods respectfully? Share your thoughts below!