I know the chances of many of the readers who grace this blog being gamers are pretty low. However I am clever enough to know you are out there. Lauren and I, ourselves are closet gamers when we're not sipping our champagne, gossiping, or the billion other things we have on our to-do lists. I've often been thinking, why aren't there enough games set in the 18th century? And before any laughing snarls come out of the true gamers who have stumbled upon this post I would like to direct you to other video-game junkies who are asking the same question.At the beginning of the month, BitMob posted, 4 Places Rockstar Should Set Their Next Game. Two of those suggestions were in the 18th century, one setting being England. Listen to this convincing plea,
"This period also encapsulated the heyday of highwaymen, robbers on horseback who were often romanticized in stories...This rich history of folklore from the time would make this an incredibly interesting setting for Rockstar to explore. The Grand Theft Auto series and Red Dead Redemption have successfully paid homage to cinema history, and by setting a game during 18th-century England they could do the same thing for the written word."Sign me up!
I have found a few video games set in the era, mostly war strategy games and pirate crusades. I guess attempting to bring a monarch's downfall with gossip and rumors while putting together the perfect masquerade costume hasn't come out yet. A girl can dream... In the meantime here is what I have found. Do you know of any good games set in our most favorite of centuries? What would you like to see in terms of a game set in the 18th century?
East India Company
PC StrategyEmpire: Total War
PC StrategyAnno 1701 PC and DS RPG
Pirates of the Burning Sea
PC MMOThe soon to be released Harker, which looks pretty cool, XBox Action
Age of Empires III
PC RTS (I used to love Age of Empires, I'm tempted to buy this one!)
I am so in!
ReplyDeleteI play Left4Dead with a girlfriend of mine a few times a week and we always end up doing way more gossiping than zombie killing.
And speaking of zombie killing, Valve video games should speak to Quirk Classics about a Left4Dead / "Pride and Prejudice & Zombies" crossover.
It could be an online co-op game where players would assume the role of one of the five Bennet sisters.
Here's my marketing pitch: Attend witty card parties and elegant dances! Join with your sisters to perform the deadly "Pentagram of Death" attack! Save England and win Darcy's heart while fighting hordes of the Unmentionables!
I would buy that game in a heartbeat.
I love the sound of that hearsay and masquerade game - count me in! (Or maybe I'm biased as it sounds a lot like a video game version of my novel-in-progress! Just throw in a bit of sneak-thief-ing and romance and you're there!)
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any other 18th century games off the top of my head (unfortunately) and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't any more, though elements of Fable II were 18th century-esque - some outfits and the wigs on female noble NPCs were high and white, plus the guns are flint lock pistols and so on...
I do like historically set games - getting to adventure around Renaissance Italy was the main reason I bought Assassin's Creed 2 and it was a real treat!
I love the fact that I'm not the only out there who likes this blog and history base games!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is Age of Empires III which I OWN, I just burnt the spaniards town center an hour ago :D, me representing the Knight's of Saint John with some help of my aztec allies ;)
And guess what I also OWN Age of Empires III: War chiefs!! it's great,
Here's a tip for the Conqueror's out there: No matter how much resources you spent in protecting your colony, the game is won by being offensive which means, BURN THE OTHERS TOWN CENTER haha :O
@Keri Luna, I like the way you think! It's only a matter of time before it is a game, I think. I love Left4Dead even if I am the player who always gets the lassoed by that tongue zombie.
ReplyDelete@Gentlewoman Thief, Yes! Assasin's Creed spent so much attention to their art history!
@Miss Honnete, Is that the one with the Indian tribes? Lauren and I have had a long-standing inside joke about burning each others Iroquois village because of that masterpiece.
I am a very eager adventure gamer, and I wish there was more historical games in my genre. I like the deep, novel-like stories they have.
ReplyDeleteI'm not very suited for strategy, I'm, afraid.
Another problem is, that most game designers seem to be very poor researchers (the makers of the Total War series excluded). Most of the costumes, hairstyles and so on in any historically based games are just so awful it spoils the illusion for me!
Also, it is a shame 18th century and regency can't be portrayed more believably in the Sims... although the content-generating fans are trying.
But coming back to the "Total War" series... I am quite sure "Empire Total War" is set in the 18th century, involving the wars of independence, colonialization and so on... my husband plays it all the time and is very pleased with the realism, but I'd prefer more a civilian motif.
I always go back to AOE III. Sometimes I don't play for months but suddenly I find myself stuck again... It's always more fun to play with friends over LAN but one of our computers died so we can't do that any more :(
ReplyDeleteA fun game is Sid Meier's Pirates! It's set in the 17th century, but tell me about another game that involves DANCING? Pirates and dancing! Sooo much joy!
@Alisa, I notice that same problem too! The toils the historically-minded..
ReplyDelete@Madame Berg, Ah yes it's all coming back to me now...the endless nights up building empires. Must...resist...buying AOE3...
Ooo, these all sound good. I've got to give them a try. They used to have really good period games for the Amiga computer, but that died awhile back & I haven't been able to find equivalents for those lovely games. But thank you for posting this!
ReplyDeleteI am very late to the conversation but I strongly recommend Fable II & III as well as Sid Miers Pirates.
ReplyDelete