10 Games to Play for the United States' 250th Anniversary

It's very rare these days that modern sovereign states get to celebrate momentous anniversaries such as being around for over a century, but the United States of America will soon celebrate being around for a quarter millennium on Independence Day 2026, 250 years after declaring independence from Great Britain in 1776.

While many Americans will celebrate this milestone by going on vacation with their family during the peak of the summer season, many will likely celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary at home and undoubtedly spend some of that time playing video games.

With Independence Day 2026 being such a historic achievement for the United States, here are 10 video games people should play to celebrate the country's 250th due to each title spotlighting important historical eras, events, locations, and activities of the North American nation.

10 Call of Duty: World at War

America's Role in World War II

Activision's Call of Duty franchise is well known today as one of the most successful American-developed video game entities of all time, with the war-centric series being the fourth best-selling video game franchise of all time, but it hasn't released a truly great game set during World War II in a while.

CoD got its start by recreating the battles of WWII back in 2003, but the last truly great CoD game set during the Second World War has got to be Call of Duty: World at War, which saw people play as American soldiers in the Pacific Campaign and as Soviet Union soldiers in the European campaign.

These campaigns are arguably some of the most brutal ever featured in a CoD title, with the Pacific Campaign recreating the Makin Raid, Battle of Peleliu, and Battle of Okinawa against the Empire of Japan featuring both sides committing horrific but historically accurate acts such as the Japanese torturing prisoners and Americans burning soldiers with flamethrowers.

9 MLB The Show 26

America's Favorite Pastime

Soccer, or football as it's known in most countries, is at the center of every sport's fan's mind these days, with the 2026 FIFA World Cup still ongoing as of the time of this writing. While the World Cup's games are certainly exciting, gamers should try out a game focusing on America's favorite pastime: MLB The Show 26.

While historians do credit England as being the ancestral home of the sport that would become baseball, most people do consider baseball as an "American" sport, with the game still garnering millions of fans every year and being the center of countless school and family game competitions.

MLB The Show 26 is the latest release of Sony's MLB: The Show series, with the game featuring over 40 historical baseball legends along with dozens of modern MLB players, such as the New York Yankees' star player Aaron Judge, who features predominately on the game's cover and marketing.

8 Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization

Simulating the Colonization of America

One aspect that makes the United States unique compared to most other countries is that it's a nation predominantly comprised of immigrants and their descendants from all over the globe. People can simulate North and South America's large-scale colonization in Civilization IV: Colonization.

A remake of the turn-based strategy game Sid Meier's Colonization using the Civilization IV engine, Civilization IV: Colonization has players initially controlling settlers from England, France, Spain, or the Netherlands in the late 15th century as they colonize the American continents and eventually declare independence.

Here, players must master governance and trade with their neighboring colonies, native states, and home nations whilst recruiting more settlers and leaders to either lead colonies into becoming nations of their own, such as the USA, or simulate alternate historical events such as Great Britain crushing the Patriots and other nations during the 18th century.

7 War of Rights

Recreating Battles of the Civil War

The American Civil War was one of the most pivotal events of American history, with the war between the northern Union and the southern Confederacy still impacting political issues today. It's still the deadliest war in American history, with roughly 700,000 Americans losing their lives in the four-year-long struggle.

Players can recreate one of the most brutal military campaigns of the Civil War in the multiplier-focused tactical FPS game War of Rights, which sees players embody either Union or Confederate troops in battles during the 1862 Maryland Campaign, which includes the bloodiest day of American history, the Battle of Antietam.

War of Rights is primarily a Civil War game, but developer Campfire Games recently launched a 1776 event running till July 6th, allowing people to play in massive 400-player Revolutionary War battles as either Patriots, English Loyalists, Redcoats, or Hessian mercenaries.

6 Red Dead Redemption 2

The Fall of the Wild West

Oftentimes, when people from other countries picture Americans, the image of a 19th century Wild West cowboy usually appears. If people today ever wanted to live the life of a cowboy, there's no better game to do than Red Dead Redemption 2.

Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in fictional western states, Red Dead Redemption 2 has players primarily embody the outlaw Arthur Morgan as he and the Van der Linde gang struggle to survive against other rival gangs, the brutality of nature, and the ever-dominating presence of industrialized civilization and governance.

While RDR2 may follow fictional characters in fictional areas of the USA, it arguably features the most realistic recreation of the Wild West, with players having to struggle through harsh winters and oppressive summers, take care of horses, and hunt animals for food and crafting materials.

5 Battlefield 1

America's Role in The Great War

Call of Duty may feature many titles set during WWII, but it doesn't feature any games set during World War I, otherwise known as the Great War, with one of the best games to take place during the early 20th century war being Battlefield 1.

Set across multiple battlefronts across Europe and the Middle East, Battlefield 1 follows several Allied soldiers. However, only two of its campaigns follow American soldiers, with one following several African American Harlem Hellfighters during the Second Battle of the Marne.

The other campaign follows fictional American pilot Clyde Blackbirn serving in the Royal Flying Corps during the Battle of Arras, with many American pilots historically training and flying with the RFC before the US officially joined the war.

4 The Oregon Trail

A Modern Iteration of a Gaming Classic

One of the most impactful and well-regarded American-made video games of all time is the revolutionary text-based strategy game The Oregon Trail, which was originally designed in 1971 to teach children about the pioneer life in the early 19th century.

Since the 1970s, The Oregon Trail has been remade and sequelized countless times, with its latest iteration being 2021's The Oregon Trail by Gameloft, featuring a more in-depth storyline following pioneers traveling from Missouri to Oregon, class-based system, historical and cultural Guide Book, and gameplay cycle with several new mini-games.

Much like the original game, players will still need to maintain their party's health, supplies, and wagon condition in order to survive, but this time there are a lot more random events that could impact the journey, such as diseases potentially passing between party members, paths being blocked off, or encountering other pioneers to trade with.

3 Holdfast: Nations At War

Patriots Versus Redcoats

War of Rights is primarily focused on the battles of the Civil War, but if players want to take part in epic 150-player battles from the Napoleonic Wars to WWI, they'll have to check out the first and third-person shooter multiplayer game Holdfast: Nations At War.

Here, people can choose from 27 classes across 11 factions on iconic battlefields of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, with the US only being featured in the WWI era of the base game, but the country recently stepped into the spotlight via the new American Revolution expansion.

This expansion features four massive maps based on the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Siege of Boston, the Battle of Saratoga, and the Battle of Trenton, allowing people to play as various Patriot and Redcoat troops and officers in some of the Revolutionary War's most famous skirmishes on land and sea.

2 Microsoft Flight Simulator

Flying Through the USA's National Parks

While much of American history is conflict-centric, there are many parts that are peaceful and tranquil, such as its many famous national parks. Players can fly through many of them via Microsoft Flight Simulator's upcoming World Update 22: US National Parks.

Releasing on July 4th, Microsoft Flight Simulator's latest update will allow people to fly through Acadia National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Dry Tourtugas National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Zion National Park, and so many more from various planes and helicopters.

With travel being so expensive these days, particularly for US residents due to rising gas costs, playing Microsoft Flight Simulator is a great cost-efficient way to visit these beautiful natural wonders of the world this summer season.

1 Assassin's Creed III

The Greatest Revolutionary War Game

The Revolutionary War has been the subject of several video games over the years, but I would argue that the best one that still holds up incredibly well nearly 14 years later is Assassin's Creed III.

Taking place primarily during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, Assassin's Creed III mostly follows the half-British, half-Mohawk man Ratonhnhaké:ton, otherwise known as Connor Kenway, as he strives to defend his tribe from Templar threats, inevitably becoming an Assassin and aiding the Continental Army.

Over the course of the game, players get to meet many of the US' Founding Fathers and take part in famous events leading up to and during the Revolutionary War, including but not limited to, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Battles of Lexington and Concord.