February 2025 Could Be Perfect for Two Types of Historical Game Fans

February 2025 Could Be Perfect for Two Types of Historical Game Fans

Real-world history has influenced video games since their very inception, especially in the strategy genre, where tabletop wargames based on historical battles were used as the basis of the genre. One of the earliest history-based strategy games to become a mainstream hit was 1991’s Civilization, an incredibly ambitious title that saw players assume the role of a historical leader and lead their real-world nation to victory. But Civilization was just the first drop in an ever-deepening ocean.

The Age of Empires series, Anno, Crusader Kings, Assassin’s Creed, and Ghost of Tsushima all show the continued popularity of history-based video games, and 2025 is about to bring a handful more to the table. Two of these games are releasing within a week of one another, and both should offer slightly different ways to engage with history.

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February 2025 Will Give History Fans Two Different Gaming Experiences

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Offers Painstaking Historical Accuracy

Before its 2018 launch, one of the core selling points shown in much of Kingdom Come: Deliverance‘s marketing was the game’s incredibly high level of historical accuracy. In its attempt to recreate the most historically accurate 15th Century Kingdom of Bohemia as possible, developer Warhorse Studios hired a full team of historians. These historians not only advised the developers on what kind of weapons, armor, and architecture they’d find during the era, but even what type of food would be grown and sold at the time in that specific region.

Based on pre-release interviews (like the one Game Rant conducted back in August), it seems as though Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is going all-in on historical accuracy once again. Warhorse Studios PR Manager Tobias Stolz-Zwilling has mentioned how while Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 doesn’t “aspire to be 100% correct,” the way in which the studio has crafted the world is as accurate as possible, with the game’s locations, NPCs, and main storyline all being taken from real historical records.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 releases on February 4, 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

In most medieval-themed RPGs, the player is often the infallible hero of the story, and the only one who can stop a great evil. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance, however, the player is very much just a citizen of the world, with real motivations, qualities, and flaws. Kingdom Come: Deliverance immerses players in a world that’s bigger than them and their actions.

Civilization 7 Offers a More Speculative Approach to History

Releasing just seven days after Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (on February 11, 2025), Civilization 7 is still a game steeped in real-world history, but it gives the player a bit more agency in how they interact with it. Assuming the role of a well-known historical leader, players will lead their chosen nation to prosperity, but they’re given a variety of ways to do so.

Civilization 7 will allow players to achieve victory through military, scientific, cultural, or economic means, regardless of how the real-world nations rose to prominence, and regardless of what approach the leader is historically known for. For instance, Civilization lets players assume the role of famous pacifist Gandhi, and turn him into the world’s most fearsome military tactician.

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