Top 10 Video Games That Rewrote History

Top 10 Alternate Histories in Games

Why learn about history when you can rewrite it? Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we are counting down our picks for the top ten alternate histories in games.
For this list we’ll be looking at video games that are set in a timeline where historical events took on a drastic turn and thus veered off into a far different present. Keep in mind we’ll only be including histories that alternate from our own, so crisscrossing timelines that take place in fantasy universes like The Legend of Zelda won’t be included.

#10: “Civilisation” series (1991-)

What better place to start than with a game that literally makes your own history from the ground up. Starting as a small cluster of life, players have to chart a course if their growing populace is to flourish into an eventual superpower. Depending on which route they choose to take to achieve this, whether it be through focusing on diplomacy, economics, technology or conquest, the outcome will vary into something far removed for historically correct. The amount of content will ensure that no one play-through will ever be the same, and the civilisation you eventually create will be either be built on great achievements or the bones of your enemies.

#9: “Freedom Fighters” (2003)

Turns out when the Soviet Union jumps the gun, everyone suffers! After beating everyone to the punch by dropping the first atomic bomb the Soviets effectively end World War II, except this time it’s on Berlin.From that point onwards, communism starts to go global, even making its way to the States. Assuming the role of plumber turned resistance fighter Christopher Stone, players have to push back against the Soviet occupants stationed in New York City, participating in guerrilla warfare while recruiting more and more allies to take the Big Apple back from Starlin’s Russia.

#8: “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl” (2007)

Why stop at one explosion when you can have two? Set twenty years after the initial Chernobyl Disaster, a meltdown leads to a new wave of radiation that doesn’t just exterminate all life, it mutates it. As such the area, dubbed the Zone, became uninhabitable, though it didn’t stop the likes of rogue thieves and explorers from venturing to hunt for anything of value. Unfortunately for them they aren’t exactly alone, as the personal and wildlife caught in the second explosion have evolved into grotesque monsters with a taste for blood. Needless to say Chernobyl’s radiation isn’t the only thing that’s hazardous to your health.

#7: “Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon” (2013)

Everything you love about the cheesiness of the 80’s you’ll find right here! Set in a dystopian future, albeit with a very retro feel to it, this standalone expansion to the gritty realism of Far Cry 3 has players take on the role of a cybernetic soldier with one mission – kill the bad guys and get the girl. The hilariously simple premise accompanied with the crazy neon visuals is equal parts satire and homage to campy fun of early action movies. 2007 sure would have been a very different year if mechanical dragons were on the prowl…

#6: “Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington” (2013)

It may be non-canonical, episodic in nature and stray away from Connor’s path to becoming an assassin, but we’ll be damned if the idea that you have to defeat the villainous first president isn’t an awesome one. After coming into contact with the Apple of Eden, Connor awakens to see that while he originally believed the United States of American to be finally free of monarchic rule, a new king had been crowned and his name is George Washington. The surreal scenario, new combat abilities and the fact you have to kill the Founding Fathers for the sake of peace made this a hidden gem in the Assassin’s Creed series.

#5: “Resistance” series (2006-12)

Turns out if you add technologically advanced aliens to the mix, history can stem off in a violent direction. Following the Great War, the alien threat known as the Chimera began to destroy Russia from within, eventually leaving the Soviet Union as nothing more than a collection of ghost towns. As such World War II is avoided completely, but the battle against this new menace leaves the world devastated. As the rest of Europe falls into ruin and allied military forces are left scattered, all that remains of humanity is left cluttered inside the United States, with the Chimera slowly forcing mankind into a corner. Out of all alien invasions in games, this is definitely one of the bleakest.

#4: “Fallout” series (2008-)

The 1950's was an interesting cultural point in American society, Cola products were the hot rage, the wonders of nuclear energy gave crazy theories for the future and there was the ever present "duck and cover" fear of Communists dropping the Atom Bomb. But what if that cultural mindset stuck around? That's exactly the scenario that the Fallout games drop its players into; A world where the culture of the 1950’s never went away, and neither did the obsession with nuclear power. Although this obsession created new technological wonders, it also resulted in a literal nuclear apocalypse down the line. But hey, now the wasteland you’re left with has a sweet retro-50s charm, so that’s a plus.

#3: “BioShock” series (2007-13)

Rapture and Columbia stand as two of the most incredible yet frightening settings in all of video games. In an attempt to get away from the restrictions of the governments as well as the escalation of the Cold War, Andrew Ryan created an underwater utopia that soon unravelled into an underseahell filled with splicers and Big Daddies. Zachary Comstock took this a step further with his flying paradise, home to a whole slew of prejudice, religious violence as well as Elizabeth, a girl cursed with the power to rip open time itself to the point where you’re not sure where or when you are.

#2: “Wolfenstein: The New Order” (2014)

You just can’t have alternate timelines without talking about the Nazis. The face of mass genocide and discrimination have made for great enemies in video games over the years, but their vicious nature was best captured in analternate history in which Hitler’s Germany won World War II. As veteran soldier B.J. Blazkowicz guns his way through war machines and mechanised giants, it’s the moral insanity of the Nazi operatives and scientists that create the genuine horror and fear that a possible future like this would bring. As is most often the case, the most terrifying monsters are human beings filled with hatred and lacking any form of empathy.


Before we reveal our number one pick here are a few honourable mentions
“Damnation” (2009)
“Destroy All Humans!” (2005)
“Homefront: The Revolution” (2016)
“Crimson Skies” (2000)

#1: “Commander and Conquer: Red Alert” series (1995-2013)

Remember what we said about the Nazi's in the last entry? Now imagine what would happen if Albert Einstein travelled back in time to kill Hitler before he could bring the Nazi party to power. The resulting power shift now has Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union unopposed to launch a full scale invasion of Europe on a single war front. Stalin is defeated in the first game, but his predecessor Alexander Romanov is able to rebuild the union and this time launch an invasion against the United States. But then in Red Alert 3 things get even more crazy when the Soviets travel back in time to kill Einstein, resulting in the nuclear bomb never being invented and Japan becoming an unopposed superpower. Wow that escalated quickly.
Do you agree with our list? What’s your favourite alternate history in games? With new top tens published every day be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.