10 Best Historical Fiction Open World Games

When players want to be immersed in an open world game, they want to walk through the world as if they were actually living in it. In the case of open world games that are also historical fiction, that rich world is all the more lively — as it was, in fact, lived in.

And as an avid fan of historical fiction, I can't get enough of it.

Regardless of where (and, most importantly, when) they take place, these games aren't just historically accurate; they're a living piece of history captured in a bubble, waiting for you to take it in.

Exploration may be optional in open world games, but these particular titles will captivate you to just wander; and these are games where you will truly want to get lost and soak up the history. For all you know, you might learn a thing or two.

10 Rise of the Ronin

The Final Days of the Edo Period

A lot of samurai media will focus on the Sengoku (the Warring States) Period of Japan; it's for good reason, too, as it's the era in which samurai were at their most powerful and infamous. However, Rise of the Ronin takes place in the era after: The Edo Period, which is defined by peace, art, and prosperity.

Specifically, Rise of the Ronin takes place right at the end of the Edo Period, right before the Meiji Restoration began and changed Japan into being a lot more influenced by the West. You see it in the world and in the people; mindsets are shifting, and things are changing with the times. It's equal parts exciting and terrifying to the everyday people.

Considering that the game will actually involve you with real conflicts, there are going to be some creative liberties taken (after all, the Blade Twins aren't in actual history books). That being said, literally everything else is grounded in realism and careful accuracy; any inaccuracy is deliberately to prevent even bigger inaccuracies, making it the lesser of two evils in storytelling.

And best of all: it's just a dang good time.

Fictional Place, Real Medieval Era

While Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord is set in the fictional city of Calradia, it's clearly meant to be set during the Migration Period (300-600 AD), which was defined by, you guessed it, a massive number of people migrating all across Europe and West Asia. However, it's more commonly known by its former title, the Dark Ages.

Each of the factions are also based on real-world armies, such as the Khuzaits being parallels to the Mongols and the Aserai being the Arabs. It's literally retelling history but using different names, being so well-grounded in the deep, medieval world that it genuinely doesn't matter where the game is meant to be.

So while Bannerlord doesn't have a direct, real-world counterpart, based on the context clues of the actual era we're fighting in, it's safe to say when it takes place; as far as why it doesn't just claim to be in Europe, with a name like Calradia, I'd wager it already has.

8 Yakuza 0

Tokyo's Bubble Economy Before it Popped

As for one of the more recent historical fiction entries in the genre, Yakuza 0 is a great time, one that allows you to see Tokyo during its Bubble Economy Era (the late 80s and early 90s). This was an era of significant wealth and all kinds of amenities; it's like money doesn't exist to even be a problem. Of course, it's still a problem enough for the yakuza to be thriving like they were, but alas.

That is, until the bubble burst, and now the yen is at one of its weakest.

So when you step into the world of Yakuza 0, you see Tokyo at one of its most extravagant times, lit up by countless lights and flooded with all kinds of people just going about their day. And the things you can do within this world range from mundane to outright hysterical, a lightness and ease that really only existed before the days of the internet.

And hopefully, we'll see more of Yakuza before we know it, so we'll be able to see what other adventures we can get up to.

7 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Medieval Czech Republic was Brutal

It's no secret that life isn't easy, but things were certainly harder back in older times. The Medieval times in particular were rampant with all manner of suffering, and that's exactly what we see in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which is set in the Medieval Czech Republic.

And let me tell you, Medieval-era Czech Republic is brutal and won't hesitate to just leave you for dead. There isn't any hand-holding, and you have to dredge through survival and all that entails all by yourself, even if you want to simply train with your sword so that you can properly fight.

The game is as realistic as possible, requiring you to keep a careful eye on your character (such as your hunger, temperature, bleeding, increasing your skills, etc.) to keep yourself alive. And in this world, every possible barrier is in your way to hold you back, so you'd have to literally crawl through progress.

But the rewards of your labour are far more rewarding than the world itself, making you feel exactly as a medieval peasant would as soon as they have a single victory in a cruel world.

6 Shenmue Series

See Japan and China in the Late 80s

As far as open world games, Shenmue set the foundation that countless other stories follow — and the fact that it was set in the mid-1980s in both Japan and China only enriches the world even further. You are searching for your father's killer in order to enact revenge (a tale as old as time, honestly), and you'll stop at nothing, and you'll stop nowhere, until you find him.

The series starts in Japan and then takes you to China in the sequels, specifically in Hong Kong, which houses a distinct culture from the rest of mainland China. They speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin in Hong Kong, if that's any indication.

You see the world not through the eyes of someone with power, but through the eyes of someone who had it fully taken away. And considering how, at the time, it was the first to implement a weather cycle, fully interactive locations and individual schedules for each NPC, this was completely ground-breaking when it came out and has since amassed a cult following.

It's an absolute classic that everyone should try out at least once; just be willing to overlook some of the goofy voice acting, which just so happened to be standard at the time. You can't win them all with translations, but you can definitely win with this world.

5 Mafia: Definitive Edition

Good Old 1930s Drama

Many people already have an idea of what the mafia was like during its peak, mostly defined by stereotypes rather than being fully grounded in reality; and this reality is exactly what we see in Mafia (and its remake, Mafia: Definitive Edition). In this game, you're playing as a typical taxi driver in 1930s Chicago who gets thrown into the world of organised crime, and the results are spectacular.

And while the original game leaned a little more into the funnier stereotypes and exaggerated Italian-American accents, the remake goes for a much darker, harsher, more realistic tone. By the end of it, if you thought of the mafia as cool before, you certainly won't anymore.

This is a game that doesn't hold back in how the mafia was during the time, and the story that it tells alongside these actions is absolutely wonderful. If you loved mafia movies that depicted the rawness of what a life of crime actually entails, you're going to be blown away by the accuracy in this game.

And if it happens to draw you into the rest of the series, even better.

4 Far Cry Primal

Prehistoric Times Never Looked So Cool

We don't know too much about prehistoric times — simply because things weren't written down — but thanks to the work of archaeologists, paleontologists, anthropologists, and the like, we're able to get a solid idea. And these are the exact kinds of people that developers worked with while making Far Cry Primal, which is set in prehistoric times.

You play as a hunter trying to re-establish your tribe, and from there, you'll run into a completely different world than what we know and love today. Just saying, it's a miracle that any human was able to look a woolly mammoth in the eye and live, much less live through an era when the world was at its most hostile.

So when you boot up this game, it's like you're actually one of the tribe. Your weapons, supplies, and everything are limited by the lack of technology, so you have to often be creative (and genuinely really careful) in your next move. Sticks and stones will be your best friends and your lifeline.

For the best immersion, play on Survival mode, where you actively have to eat and sleep. Sure, it's a much harder game in this difficulty, but the realism becomes top-notch.

3 Ghost of Tsushima

Defend Against the First Mongol Invasion

Ghost of Tsushima is, hands down, the best samurai game of all time — and ironically, it doesn't even take place during the Sengoku Period; instead, it actually takes place during the First Mongol Invasion (in the mid-late 1200s) on the real island of Tsushima, Japan. And if you want to play the Iki Island DLC, that's another real location, too.

And as someone who has a deep interest in Japanese history and mythology, this game holds a deep sense of realism, even with the creative liberties taken. Even then, the liberties were more to make the game feel like an Akira Kurosawa film, and this kind of love letter is the foundation of the whole experience. The next thing you know, you're at the Duel of the Crashing Waves, and you're just in awe of every single detail.

This game is truly spectacular, and the world within it is nothing short of vast and outright stunning. Seriously, I have yet to see another game that's as jaw-droppingly beautiful as this one.

And the cherry on top, the credits of this game actually pay tribute to the samurai of Tsushima who had fallen defending their home, reminding you of how the world today was built with the blood of yesterday.

2 Red Dead Redemption 2

The End of the Wild West

By 1899, the age of outlaws and gunslingers was at an end — this iconic opening line sets the entire foundation for Red Dead Redemption 2, where we're watching the real-time end of the Wild West. You're playing as Arthur Morgan while he's trying to keep the Van der Linde gang from completely imploding, but considering how America was rapidly changing, the implosion is looking more and more inevitable.

Every single detail of this game ties back to history, all the way down to the UI and font choices. For a moment, it's like you're actually living in the Wild West.

This doesn't even mention the unreal amount of realism that this game carries. It's truly a completely genre-defining title, with players continuing to find new details and noticing even more that will ground you more than anything today. The game isn't even a decade old, and it's still absolutely revolutionary and a historical fiction masterpiece.

You've never played anything quite like it before, and you'll likely never play anything like it again, so take it slow and enjoy the ride.

1 Assassin's Creed (Series)

Each Game is a New Place and Era

When it comes to historical fiction open world games, no series does it like Assassin's Creed, where every game is set in a new country in a different era. Whether it's the Ancient Middle East, Renaissance Italy, Colonial America, the Golden Age of Piracy, or in a different era somewhere else entirely, it's truly historical fiction at its best.

Not to mention, they're great games for open world beginners, allowing players to walk around the world without much risk (unless they want to bring it upon themselves by becoming wanted). And even if there are some plot holes in the stories themselves, everyone is willing to overlook it for the stunningly rich world that we're thrown into.

Each culture is represented with respect and dignity, with its history being told as accurately as possible. In fact, in the older games, you could actually read through history in the menu, whether it's the places you visit or the people that you're dealing with; while that was phased out in more modern titles, many now offer Discovery Tours, which are much more immersive.

There's an Assassin's Creed game for every single player out there, so even if one era doesn't interest you, there's bound to be one that will — and you're able to just dive right in with no issue.