5 video games based on real-life events

For many of us, video games offer an escape from real life and enjoy the amazingly crafted fictional stories that are in store for us. Sometimes, the most compelling stories are not created by imagination but are inspired by real-life events.

Developers often focus on real-life historical events and take their spin on them to produce video games that offer an unmatched experience to learn about things that happened. Due to the wide variety of events that video games can cover, there is a piece of history to be known to every one of us.

Best games to play based on real-life events

Here are some of the best games that are based on real-life events and can be downloaded by players.

1) L.A Noire

Rockstar Games released L.A. Noire back in 2011 as a detective action-adventure game, which offered unique mystery-solving gameplay that required observation skills and gunfights.

Players take on the role of Detective Cole Phelps and solve cases to rise among the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The game accurately depicts open-world visuals based in Los Angeles in 1947.

Players have to interrogate witnesses and suspects, search for clues at the crime scene and follow up on leads. The game offers several criminal cases based on real-life events, with the most notable being the Black Dahlia Murder, in which players get to deduce and crack the mystery of the famous murder.

2) Assassin’s Creed III

Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed III back in 2012 as the fifth major installment of its flagship Assassin’s Creed series. The series has always focused on major real-life historical events and even featured iconic historical characters like Pope Alexander VI and Leonardo da Vinci.

Assassin’s Creed III took place during the time of the American Revolution and depicts many important events in America’s history. The game follows Connor and Desmond Miles as they participate in major historical events like the Boston Massacre, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Paul Revere’s Ride and the iconic Boston Tea Party.

The game also accurately depicts an open world based on 18th-century New York City and Boston.

3) The Saboteur

EA and Pandemic Studios released The Saboteur in 2009 as an action-adventure game based on World War II. Players will take on the role of Sean Devlin, a former Irish race car enthusiast who will eventually join the French Resistance to liberate Paris.

Devlin decided to take revenge for his best friend, who the Nazis killed. In real-life, Devlin played the role of William Grover Williams, who was a French-English grand prix champion. When the war started, he fled to France and worked as a spy for the British SOE.

The game showcased many accurate details of the French Resistance and portrayed many real-life events throughout the game.

4) That Dragon, Cancer

Numinous Games released That Dragon, Cancer is an autobiographical adventure game that portrays the story of Green’s four-year-old son, Joel, fighting against cancer.

Joel was diagnosed with terminal cancer at twelve months old. He successfully survived four more years after his soul left in 2014. Though the game doesn’t depict any event of historical significance, it offers an immersive experience of all the love, despair and grief that the parents face after losing their child.

Players will take on the role of Joel’s parents and will be able to interact with characters and make confident choices that Green once took in real life.

5) This War of Mine

11 bit Studios released This War of Mine back in 2014 as a war-based survival video game but with a different perspective. Unlike other war-based games, This War of Mine focuses on the experience of civilians during the war rather than front-line combat in the military.

Players get to control a group of civilians who are hiding in a damaged house and aim to keep them alive during the war with all the tools and materials available. The game is set in the besieged fictional city of Pogoren, Graznania, which is inspired by the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia. The Yugoslav People’s Army surrounded the Bosnian capital for almost 4 years.

The game portrayed the horrifying experiences civilians faced during that time and re-created the events as accurately as possible.

These were some of the best games based on real-life events that will leave players demanding for more. There are a lot of other games available on different platforms as well that players can download.

Top 5 video games based on real-life events