Article

Video Games Set in

the Middle Ages: Time
Spans, Plots, and Genres

Games and Culture

1-22
The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/1555412015627068
gac.sagepub.com

Cesar San Nicolas Romera1,

ngel Nicolas Ojeda2, and Josefa Ros Velasco3
Miguel A

Abstract
Within the study of video games, there is a burgeoning interest in the phenomenon
of historical representation; nonetheless, few studies have centered on the reflection of particular eras of History, such as the Middle Ages and the effect of this on
interpretations of culture and potential pedagogical applications with respect to this
specific period of time. In this study, we present and discuss the compilation and
content of a database of over 600 medieval titles released between 1980 and 2013,
demonstrating the growing popularity, with producers and consumers, of what we
could now refer to as a stand-alone genre. We discuss our categorization of the
collection as purely historical or as hybrid and provide what could prove a very rich
source of data for researchers on typical plot lines, most and least popular eras or
events in history, genres commonly adopted within both types of game.
Keywords
video games, Middle Ages, genre, plots, database

1
Facultad de Comunicacion y Documentacion, Departamento de Informacion y Documentacion, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
2
Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicacion, Area de profesorado de Publicidad y Relaciones Publicas,
Universidad Catolica San Antonio, Murcia, Spain
3
Departamento de Historia de la Filosofa, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Murcia, Spain

Corresponding Author:
Cesar San Nicolas Romera, Departamento de Informacion y Documentacion, Facultad de Comunicacion
y Documentacion, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, s/n. 30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain.
Email: cnicolas@um.es

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Games and Culture

Introduction
This article derives from a multidisciplinary research project entitled History and
Video Games: The Impact of New Entertainment Media on the Knowledge of
Medieval Times. The overall aim of the project is to contribute to research into
video games as narrative products capable of offering players a myriad of experiential opportunities and modes of appreciation of the particular historical era that is
the Middle Ages. This article constitutes a debut of our database of medieval video
game narratives, which is intended to provide researchers with a wealth of material
to explore how this genre approaches and represents medieval times and the respective eras, aesthetics, characters, plots, and events that are brought together to build
these narratives. Our specific mission here is to detail the compilation process and
content of this collection of works, freely accessible online at http://www.historiayvideojuegos.com/?qproduccion, which houses all the video games considered
pertinent to this typology released between 1980 and 2013. The games have subsequently been classified into two broad categories: pure (historical medieval video
games) and hybrid (historical video games inspired by fantasy).
For the dual classification of the games collected, we draw on the conceptualizations of Kingsepp (2007), Jimenez Alcazar (2011a), Wagner (2013), and Plate
(2010), in considering purely historical video games as those in which the story
lines and characters remain faithful to past events, with no references to imaginary
creatures (ogres, elves, dragons, etc.). By remaining relatively loyal to the past, these
narratives manage to reflect realistic medieval attributes: the social values prevalent
at the time, the potential of military strategies and battle tactics, the hierarchies of
nations, their architectures and lifestyles, and so on, all of which leads us to conceive
these games as hyperrealist scenarios that virtually simulate the medieval past.
Under the classification of hybrid video games, on the other hand, are those that,
while inspired by medieval backdrops and aesthetics, enjoy a degree of creative
license similar to that of science fiction narratives, enabling creators to embed their
story lines and participants in a mythological universe.
The database, as a work in progress, currently houses just over 700 titles
(launched between 1980 and 2015) and we continue to add to these. It is difficult
to make conjectures as to the representativity of this number, given that certain
genres, such as flash games, of undetermined shelf life, were discarded in the
selection process. Although we feel we have been rigorous in our search criteria,
further sources may yet come to light, so we cannot claim to have located most of the
existing titles. In this particular article, we center on the 664 games that we had
gathered by the end of 2013. As an indication of the growing popularity of this
particular genre of video game, we can point out that 492 of those 600 titles collected
pertained to the latter decade alonefrom 2003 to 2013. Nonetheless, from our total
collection, we can see a remarkable recent surge in interest in this particular type of
game in contrast to any other typology. Indeed, no other themed game seems to have
enjoyed such a significant evolution. For instance, over this same period of time, we

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San Nicolas Romera et al.

only managed to identify 45 transhumanist narrative titles, such as Killzone or

Chrysis; 36 titles of an extraterrestial nature, such as Startrek, Starwars, or Starcraft;
and a mere eight games inspired by the vampire genreall themes that, a priori,
would have been assumed more popular than the medieval style from a commercial
viewpoint.1
The database provides information on the release year of each game, the most
popular genres in each category, the platforms supporting each video game, and the
historical era and events that characterize each story line. To advance a few of the
details expanded on in the discussion section of this article and which we hope will
provide openings for future research paths, we find that hybrid games are much more
popular than purely historical ones and also tend to have a longer shelf life. This
finding appears to highlight fantasy as a stronger attractor than reality for the gamer.
Regarding genres, strategy-based gaming appears more relevant in pure games,
whereas action and adventure reign within the fantasy-fueled hybrid classification.
Among the purely historical games, we can find scripts borrowing from true events
as a foundation for the development of the entire story line (for instance, Stronghold,
20012012, inspired by the events of 1066 or The Crusades, inspired by 1095, year
of the first crusade against Islam). On the other hand, other popular games take
renowned fictitious plots as references, such as The Templars or King Arthur (e.g.,
Spirit of Excalibur, 1990 or Knights of the Temple, 2006). Finally, with reference to
platforms, we were able to establish that although the medieval style of game is
present on most game consoles, it is the PC platform that hosts a higher proportion of
games over a longer period of time.
Prior to elaborating on these and other findings, in the following sections brief
overview of some current cultural and pedagogical concerns in the domain of video
gaming, we offer readers a glimpse of the potential for research that the database we
describe may offer. We shall take a look at research that focuses on culture and past
medieval history in the video game, as well as integrating studies that approach
video games as cultural products, supporting the view of this entertainment media as
a rich and flexible pedagogical tool to use with the younger consumer in the teaching
and learning of history.

Literature Review
Schuts (2007) thinking, in that the interdisciplinary field of game studies should
broaden its theoretical foundations to draw from communication and media studies,
sociological theory, and cultural studies, influences the dual culturalpedagogical
perspective of the empirical work discussed here. Our theoretical view also draws on
Shaw (2010) who sees a dual focus on culture: internalculture within gamesand
externalthe culture of games and gameplaying. Our findings, in this sense, are not
to be taken as merely descriptive, such as those of DeMaria and Wilson (2002); King
(2002); Wolf (2008); Kent (2010); or Herman Horwitz, Kent, and Miller (2002) but
as a contribution of particular interest to researchers concerned with the presence

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Games and Culture

and representation of medieval History, its culture, and modes of representation,

based either on true historical events and facts (pure video games) or, to varying
degrees, on fictional elements (hybrid video games). At the same time, it must be
said that the empirical work we present here, as a whole, is of interest to a wide and
diverse range of video game researchers and especially to those who focus on the
pedagogical potential of historical video games in educational spheres.
Theoretically, one view of the power of video game culture is developed by
Lindtner and Dourish (2011) who consider that gameplaying arenas are sites for the
creative development of culture and the imagination as well as for identity. These
authors, in their ethnographic work on digital gaming in urban China, offer a new
vision of the theory of productive play with their concept of promise of play.
The term denotes the creative potential of games to produce new social and political
meanings and practices for gamers. They see that the end semantics produced
through play depend as much on the content and strategy design as on the relationship between local and translocal configurations of the gamethe dynamics at the
intersections between social and material practice and cultural discourse. The notion
of the promise of play lends insight into the potential strength of this digital media to
actually change perceptions of local and global identity. We feel that this is one
angle that might prove fruitful in an exploration of the popularity of the medieval
video game as a cultural product and its potential to help develop distinct political
and social identities and relationships among its users.
In studies that are concerned with the analysis of representations of the general
and medieval past in video games, there appears to be an overall interest in
uncovering information pertinent to three broad spheres: the stages of history that
appear more attractive for the development of scripts, which of these might be
considered more faithful in their representation of historical events or which of
the many cultural signifiers of these eras or events might have been chosen for
inclusion in a particular game. These foci of study tend to explore players interaction with certain past events and debate the way in which the particular historical representations presented in this digital genre influence gamers
understanding of the past (e.g., Kapell & Elliot, 2013). These same authors also
pose challenging questions on the influence of the gaming experience on players
identity formation, their construction of the present, and imaginings of the future.
For his part, Schut (2007), although in favor of the use of games as teaching tools,
attempts to demonstrate that the presentation of history in video games is replete
with stereotypes and masculine values, thus significantly biased in representations
of the past. Kingsepp (2007) explores games inspired by World War II as
instances of hyperreality and simulacra. Chapman (2013) contends that the representation of history in this medium is indeed distinct to that posed in more
classical forms of historical knowledge construction. Nonetheless, he also champions video games as equally as useful and reliable as traditional modes. Testa
(2014), on the other hand, does not endorse Chapmans ideas and is manifestly
sceptic about the ability of the video games to transmit historical knowledge. His

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San Nicolas Romera et al.

own view is that the strategies developed by the player of the game are not
restricted to reproducing real events in history, therefore outcomes can be very
different to those that actually occurred.
Other works have centered on the analysis of individual titles. Krzywinska (2006)
for instance examines World of Warcraft from the perspective of the role of mythology in the construction of fantasy worlds, and in the way, these worlds are configured by drawing from ethnic, cultural, temporal, and contextual elements. Young
(2015) targets games inspired by medieval fantasyparticularly those based on
adaptations of Peter Jacksons, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit filmsto offer
an analysis of the relationship and interactivity between narratives and representations of race and character in both games and films. On the other hand, and this also
bears direct relation to the potential of our database, one group of researchers take on
the analysis of a large volume of medieval games with the aim of identifying popular
periods and thematic events in simulations of the Middle Ages, such as the crusades
(Jimenez Alcazar, 2011a), and Muslim representations (Jimenez Alcazar & Rodrguez, 2014), while, at the same time, assessing the iconography and ludic capacity of
the epoch and its suitability for the design of gaming strategies (Jimenez Alcazar,
2009, 2010, 2011b).
The 600-strong collection that we detail here is also highly relevant to research
targeting the pedagogical application of the idiosyncratic features and qualities of
historical video games and particularly those inspired by the Middle Ages. There is a
developing field of research targeting the utility of games for history teaching, given
its ability to bypass the temporal and contextual fragmentation that traditional
resources, such as textbooks, inevitably present. For instance, we have the work
of McCall (2013) who takes an overall approach to the integration of games in
History education and details strategies for video game selection together with
instructional strategies for the potential applications of gaming in high school lessons to foster critical reasoning abilities regarding our conceptual (re)construction of
the past and the way we see our knowledge of the same. A more concrete focus is
that of Watson, Mong, and Harris (2011) who, through qualitative 4-year study,
analyze the pedagogical capacity of the game Making History, used to teach the
tenets of World War II to a history class in a small town of Midwestern United
States. The findings showed that the gaming experience was indeed conducive to
higher levels of student and teacher engagement, motivation, and heightened curiosity on the part of the students. Akkerman, Admiraal, and Huizenga (2009) utilize a
smartphone video game inspired by medieval Amsterdam to stimulate students
curiosity of events and architectural representations relevant to the epoch. Also,
going beyond the motivational capacity of games to examine in detail the extent
of knowledge acquisition and the complexity of the gaming strategies students were
capable of employing, Mugueta and Jimenez Alcazar (2014) found improved recognition and awareness of historically related aspects of daily social and economic
life in students as well as positive student self-assessment in terms of the usefulness
of playing in reflecting on History.

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Games and Culture

We conclude this section with the insights of Rodrguez Garca (2008) who
makes a stand for the pedagogical significance of distinguishing between games
whose narratives are inspired by medieval fiction and those that develop their story
lines from concrete events in medieval history. In his words (p. 204),
games are not a reliable source of direct information; they can be used in a learning
environment, [given that] they deal with historical eras, even though this may be with
differing degrees of fantasy, and can help bring players closer to these eras, stimulating
their interest. On the other hand, games can also foster debate on certain aspects of
medieval society, especially those related to war, art, politics and daily life. All games
are susceptible to critique, as is any other source of information on the past, and they
facilitate an examination, in conjunction with the student, of what is true, what is false,
and what is twisted.

We see that general history learning is a popular focus in debating the integration of
games into the classroom; however, future concerns may wish to whittle down the
focus to the medieval period and the way developers of pure and/or hybrid versions
choose to represent different stages, characters, and events of this epoch. Likewise,
cultural concerns may find a rich playing ground in examining interaction and
strategy development within this typology of games, given that much has yet to
be discovered about representations and interpretations of culture within Medieval
games and specific reasons behind their popularity in todays gaming population.
Our empirical work contributes to these and other little understood areas by offering
a wealth of material for insight into research lines such as the analysis of the impact
of video games on History making and the spread of historical knowledge, the
overall picture of a given period that gamers gain through their interaction with the
gaming experience, or, to indicate another potentially interesting area of inquiry, the
impact of such video games on both History professionals and teachers as well as on
the people and companies that develop such games.

Method
Database Rationale and Compilation
In this research project, we set out to explore the world of medieval video games,
mainly in order to systematize available data on what appeared to be a developing
stand-alone typology or genre in itself. Accordingly, we compiled a database of over
600 video game titles (available at www.historiayvideojuegos.com/?qproduccion).
This final collection was an essential component of our research methodology, as we
needed to gain a deeper understanding of a multitude of factors, such as those
influencing the creation and evolution of the genre: the origins of video games set
in this period of history, the years in which consumption of these games became
more widely spread, points in time when gamers seemed to turn their interest to other
genres, the most and least widely used game platforms, the most and least

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San Nicolas Romera et al.

commercially successful games, the most prominent kinds of games, the classifications of hybrid games (fantasy and historical) or purely historical games, the favorite
periods in which to set games, as well as the titles that have maintained popularity
throughout the decades.
Prior to the selection procedure, to initiate our search, we gathered all the information
we could on commercial video game titles set in the Middle Ages and released between
January 1980 and February 2013. Besides consulting the relevant literature, we gained
access to a wide range of complementary information sources such as gamers forums,
specialized digital and print magazines, TV and podcast shows, business reports, and
surveys carried out both online and through face-to-face workshops.
Once our background information had been collected, in order to identify the
games to include in our database, a combination of methods were employed. Firstly,
we performed extended Internet searches of available titles that included key words
such as Middle Ages, medieval, medievalism, and medieval age/times. Subsequently,
in order to obtain qualified feedback from gamers and related experts, an advisory
panel was compiled, including a historian, two representatives of the video game
industry (IGN Spain and FX Interactive), and three gamers. Once we had collected
the initial list of titles, we then checked that each entry in the database was either
completely or partially inspired by or set in the Middle Ages. To this end, each game
was analyzed in depth so as to gauge and register the required information. As our
collection grew, it was clear that a classification of different types of game was
required, so we decided to establish categories of either purely historical or hybrid
video games. To do this, we followed the argument that the scripts of the former
either are inspired by historical events that took place during the Middle Ages or
attempt to represent these events in their historiographical context. Hybrid games, on
the other hand, are considered those that spice up historical events with elements of
the mythology of the Middle Ages. The decision was taken not to include a
fantasy-only type of video game, as this might divert attention to titles totally
unrelated to the Middle Ages. So as to assign each game to its given category, a
three-step procedure was followed: (1) the plot of the video game as described in the
corresponding data sheet was carefully studied, (2) the box artwork, front and back,
was analyzed, and (3) when required, the panel of experts was invited to provide
feedback. Of the total of 664 titles in our database, 462 were classified as hybrid
video games, whereas 202 were considered as purely historical.

Variables in the Study

Each video game included in our database was annotated with (a) the release year,
(b) the platforms where it is or was available, (c) its subgenre, (d) the specific era in
which the game is set, and (e) a brief description of the video game, which includes
the number of players and potential for player interaction. As many online games do
not include the Pan European Game Information ratings and certainly not those
released before 2003, this information is not available.

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Games and Culture

Table 1. Hybrid (a) and Purely Historical (b) Video Games Release Year.
Release
Year (a)

Number of
Video Games (a)

Release
Year (b)

Number of
Video Games (b)

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
No year
Total

1
0
1
1
2
3
4
3
1
9
5
9
3
6
7
3
10
2
9
11
8
7
5
5
13
8
15
13
10
37
22
30
112
3
84
462

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
No year
Total

0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
4
2
0
1
0
2
2
2
2
2
3
4
6
6
4
6
7
9
12
9
18
64
1
34
202

Note. See database.

Release Year
Table 1 shows the number of games released each year (Figure 1). The production of hybrid video games started in 1982 and since then new titles have been
released yearly. The production of purely historical medieval video games

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San Nicolas Romera et al.

Figure 1. Hybrid (a) and purely historical (b) video games 19802013.

started in 1985. Nonetheless, there have been years where no games of this type
have been launched. However, for some titles, it has not been possible to date
the exact release year.

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Platforms
We have included all types of gaming platforms in our database, including Arcade
platforms used on Spectrum and Famicom systems as well as taking into account
eight generations of video consoles. Apart from the above-mentioned consoles, we
have also considered the following: (a) Nintendo, including GameBoy, Nintendo 64,
GameCube, DS, Wii, and Xbox; (b) SEGA, including Megadrive and Dreamcast; (c)
N-GAGE; and (d) all generations of PlayStation. Portable platforms such as mobile
phones or tablets have also been included and can be seen to be gaining momentum,
especially since the upsurge of third-generation mobile phones.

Genres
Given the number of titles analyzed, we have decided to use, whenever possible,
widely accepted, standard terminology to describe the different genres that we
contemplate in this study:
(a) Arcades: In these video games, users are required to advance through progressively more complex levels before achieving their goal;
(b) Adventure games (including action, violence oriented, graphic, and conversational adventure): The users form part of a plot and are required to interact
with the elements of the setting;
(c) Shooters: Users shoot opponents in order to accomplish a mission;
(d) Educational games: Users learn through play;
(e) Real-time strategy (RTS) games: In this genre, users are expected to manipulate a number of characters in order to achieve some sort of goal in real
time. Turn-based, strategy (TBS) games also fall within this category. These
are further subdivided into management or leverage games where, for example, the resources of a settlement are limited; battle-oriented war games, and
mixed games, merging both of the former;
(f) Fighting games, including first person, beatem up, free-for-all games, and
games in which users attack strongholds and diverse structures;
(g) Survival horror games, where terror-based adventure is provided;
(h) Platform genre: The users have to run, jump, and climb platforms and cliffs
and avoid enemy attack by choosing from a range of objects and artifacts
which move upward, downward, to the left, and to the right against 2-D
backgrounds;
(i) Role-playing games: Users are assigned or chose a role and must interact
with their environment in ways that affect the development of the action.
Subgenres include rogue-like games, usually set in dungeons and difficult to
play, massively multiplayer online role-playing games, multiuser dungeon
games (MUD), half role-playing, half strategy, and buy to play (BTP)
games;

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11

(j) Puzzle games, including mathematical, logic, and spatial problem-solving

games;
(k) Simulations where players are expected to manage cities, businesses, sports,
or virtual selves;
(l) Nonlinear/sandbox games: Players roam about on their own, choose the
course of events and the development of their story by interacting at will
with characters and objects at their disposal;
(m) Mixed-nature games;
The only genre that is not present in the taxonomy above is the musical.

Temporal Settings for Plots

As already discussed, we distinguished at this point between hybrid games and
purely historical video games. These are now detailed in their respective sections:
Purely historical video games. It is not unusual to find plot lines that unfold in specific
periods of time or during precise historical events. This is the case of the following
dates:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
(k)
(l)
(m)

8001000: Norway is divided into small Viking kingdoms (Valhalla

Chronicles, 2003).
8001540: The Irish capital, Dublin, is being developed as a major city
(Medieval Dublin: From Vikings to Tudor, 2011).
1066: England was invaded by the Normans who claimed their right to the
English throne (Stronghold, 20012012).
10661453: Saladin defeats the Christian army in the battle of Hattin and
the Teutonic Order is created after the Knights Templar. Simultaneously,
the 100-year war breaks out (Crusader Kings, 20042012).
1095: This is the year of the first crusade against Islam (Las Cruzadas,
2010).
1111: The Christians start the reconquest of Portugal (Portugal 1111, 2004).
1189: Richard I takes part in the third crusade (Lionheart, 2010).
12021204: The fourth crusade takes place (The Cursed Crusade, 2011).
1242: The Mongols invade Europe (Blood of Europe, 2008 and Real Warfare II, 2002) and take over different kingdoms and territories.
13371490: The French and English nobility battle to gain power (Two
Thrones, 2004).
1400: The idea of discovering the new world, America, takes root in Europe
(Anno 1404, 2009 and Europa 1400, 2002).
1467: Succession wars in the Onin-no family dynasty (Total War: Shogun 2,
2010).
1492: Global conquest and diplomacy (Europa Universalis, 20012007).

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(n) 1525: Important milestones in Sweden and the kingdom ruled by Gustav
Vasa (Svea Rike, 19972000).
Very few titles explicitly refer to a specific period of time in the Middle Ages.
The First Templar (2011), for example, is set in the 14th century. War of the Roses
(2012) is set in the 15th century. Many of the video games analyzed only vaguely
mention the early or the late Middle Ages, the eastern Middle Ages (Sango, 2009
and Ronin, no date), or the Spanish Middle Ages (El Codex del Peregrino, 2012).

Hybrid Video Games

As with purely historical video games, the hybrid game plots unfold either during
well-identified historical events or during a given period of time. Some of the most
common dates include the following:
(a) 539: Battle of Camlann, in which King Arthur died (Spirit of Excalibur,
1990).
(b) 743: Berber groups revolt against the ruling power in Al-Andalus (The
Darkest Land, no date).
(c) 6th century (King Arthur, 2009), 13th century (Knights of the Temple, 20042006), and 15th century (Darklands, 1995).
Some of these hybrid video games are set in the early Middle Ages, in the High
and Late Middle Ages (Thief Deadly Shadows, 2004), or in the eastern Middle Ages
(Dragon Quest, 19862012). However, it is frequent to find made-up periods of
time, where we can come across medieval-style occurrences, such as the myth of
King Arthur, The Templars, and so on. Further instances of these are:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)

The creation of the Age of Fire (Dark Souls, 2011).

The Hyborian Age (Conan, 2004).
The time of the Fenlands (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, 2012).
The world in the time of Thedas (Dragon Age: Origins, 2009).
The Rule of Uriel VII (The Elder Scrolls IV, 19942013).
The era of the Kingdom of Ancaria (Sacred IIII, 20042014).
The Age of the Forgotten Kingdoms (Icewind Dale, 2000 and Baldurs
Gate, 1998-2012).
(h) The Age of Tolkiens Middle Earth (Lord of the Rings, 20032011 and The
Hobbit, 2003).

Plot Lines
The plots of the video games analyzed differ to a great extent depending on their
typology of pure or hybrid. In the case of pure historical games, the most frequent

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13

plots revolve around army battles, knights feuds, and the conquering of enemy
possessions. These games tend to be developed around war-like campaigns with
violence as a key element. In other scenarios, players are required to create and edify
towns or villages and develop these by leveraging and managing their economy,
politics, construction, and maintenance of premises and, eventually, the survival of
their populations. Another common plot is one where players have to defend themselves or their strongholds or homesteads from attack by devising and building
defense mechanisms. Often, the gamers take up new roles, either real or fictional
characters, facing countless adventures in their attempts to solve riddles and other
diverse mysteries. In these latter cases, violence or aggression is not necessarily an
essential ingredient of the gaming experience. Finally, we find plots where players
compete against each other in order to win some kind of award for outstanding
mental ability or sport-related skills and duress.
On the other hand, the plots of some hybrid video games are similar to those of
purely historical games, although a touch of fantasy is always present. The most oftrepeated plot is that of a protagonist venturing on dangerous missions, such as
recovering lost treasure, freeing a whole town from some form of oppression, rescuing a princess, or reclaiming purloined possessions. Although these missions may
require some degree of violence, most often gamers are in a nonhostile environment
where new territories are discovered, castles are thoroughly ransacked, and new
treasures are bagged. Again, battle and defense, together with empire management,
are favorite topics.
The main difference between the hybrid and the purely historical video games lies
in the fact that it is only in the former that fantastic elements are embedded in the plot
and these can range from magic and implausible weapons and creatures (monsterlike, vampiric and literary) to fictional events, places, and eras.

Results
Release Dates of Hybrid Video Games
Table 1 shows the release dates and number of video games per year for both hybrid
and purely historical games. Table 2 shows the shelf life of a selection of titles
discussed below. Dracula Hunter, released in 1980, can be considered as the first
medieval-style video game that integrated fantasy into its plot. It has also been the
most enduring video game of its kind, lasting for 32 yearsthe latest version
included in this study was released in 2012. Later, in 1981, the adventure game
Galahad and the Holy Grail was released on Atari consoles with a plot that was
influenced by Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Michael White Productions,
National Film Trustee Company, Monty Python, United Kingdom, 1975). In the
19821988 interval, a couple of video games were released each year on t platforms
such as Atari, Spectrum, Nintendo, and PC. All of these were set in a sort of generic
medieval era and constituted, for the most part, role-playing, strategy, and adventure

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Table 2. Hybrid (a) and Purely Historical (b) Titles/Shelf Life.

Title (a)
Dracula
Zelda
Pendragon
Castlevania
Dragon Quest
Fire Emblem
The Elder Scrolls
The Settlers
Total

Years (a)
32
26
25
24
24
22
18
17
188

Title (b)

Years (b)

Civilization
Patrician
C-EVO
Travian
Imperia
Khan Wars

19
18
9
8
8
8

Total

70

Note. See database.

games such as Excalibur, Avalon, Ghosts and Goblins, Deadly Towers, Wizard &
Warriors, and Lancelot. Some of these have been rereleased throughout the years:
Pendragon, Castlevania, Dragon Quest, Zelda, and Final Fantasy IV.
In 1989, the market displayed a wider range of video games, including titles such
as The Quest of Excalibur, Conquest of Camelot, Dragon Spirit, Legend, Golden
Axe, Iron Lord, Ironsword, Prince Valiant, Willow, or Prince of Persia. These were
released on all the platforms available at the time and were predominantly medievalstyle action and adventure games. While in 1990, only five video games were
produced, it is notable that one of these, Fire Emblem, has actually been available
on the market for 22 years. During the following year, 1991, nine new titles were
released for SEGA, Gameboy, and PC systems. Furthermore, the number of epic
medieval role-playing games started to increase significantly, for example, Ax Battler, Golden Age, Battle of Kingdom, Chaos World, Dahna, Kingdom Crusade,
Leander, Moonstone, Niji No Silkroad, and Vengeance of Excalibur. Since then,
and up to 2004, 70 new titles were releasedan average of six games per year.
Among them, we can highlight Lunar: Silver Star Story, 1996, a role-playing game
for PC, SEGA, PlayStation, and GBA systems set in Japan; The Elder Scrolls, the
first hybrid game of medieval style set in an imaginary epoch; or Reinado de Uriel
VII in 1994. In 2004 alone, a further 12 new titles involving strategy, role-playing,
and adventure were produced: Armies of Exigo, Besieger, Castle Strike, Conan, King
Arthur, Legend of Mir, Medieval Conquest, Shrek, Thief Deadly Shadows, Worms
Forts, Fable, and Sacred. After a sudden drop in the number of titles in 2005 (only
six new games), in the following year, 2006, 15 new video games were produced,
mostly PC action, strategy, adventure, and role-playing games. In 2007, 13 titles
were released for PC and Xbox systems and 10 in 2008 for PC and Wii, most of them
based on role-playing, strategy, and puzzles; and for the first time, we encounter a
life simulation video game: My Sims Kingdom.
Since 2009, hybrid medieval games, although becoming more popular have
witnessed slight fluctuations in releases per year: 38 new titles were released in

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Table 3. Hybrid (a) and Purely Historical (b) Video Games Platforms.
Title (a)
PC
Nintendo
PlayStation
Total

Years (a)
28
26
19
73

Title (b)

Years (b)

PC
PlayStation

22
17

Total

39

Note. See database.

2009, 23 in 2010, 30 in 2011, and finally, we see a huge jump to 112 in 2012. In
February 2013, PlayStation launched two new role-playing games, Dragons Crowd
and Warriors Liar. Besides Dracula, the longest surviving video game, four other
titles have managed to extend their shelf life throughout the decades: the roleplaying games Pendragon (19852010) and Dragon Quest (19862010) and the
action games Castlevania (19862010) and Zelda (19862012). It is also of note
that it is the first-generation video games that have been most successful in adapting
to the ever-changing needs of the players, thus extending their life cycle well beyond
that of more recent titles. This is the case of some games launched in the 1990s, such
as the strategy and role-playing game Fire Emblem (19902012), available on
different platforms, The Settlers (19942013), a PC strategy game, or The Elder
Scrolls (19942013), a role-playing game for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Although most of the previously mentioned video games have been developed for
PC, the number of PlayStation and Xbox titles has increased considerably. In 2012,
the impact of PC gaming became overwhelming, as these versions became more and
more user-friendly. As expected, medieval-style games are gaining momentum on
Apple devices such as the iPhone or the iPad. The fight game Shake Spears and the
action game Medieval Hero, both released in 2012, are good examples of this trend.
We conclude this section by highlighting that was in the intervals 19912004 and
20062012 when medieval fantasy video games peaked in popularity. The most
drastic increase, however, thanks to the surge of online PC gaming and the impact
of new generation consoles took place over the latter 4 years of our collection (see
Tables 1 and 3).

Release Dates of Purely Historical Video Games

The first purely historical video game, Super Robin Hood, was released in 1985 on
some of the platforms available at the time. It was a video game set in the Middle
Ages that was, paradoxically, the last of its kind in the decade of the 80s. During the
1990s, only 14 titles were produced: the strategy, adventure, and role-playing video
games, Civilization IV, Conquest of Longbow, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and
The Adventures of Robin Hood, released on a variety of platforms including Nintendo and PC in 1991; the simulation PC game Patrician and the strategy game

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Castles in 1992; the PC strategy video game Lord of the Realms in 1994; and the PC
strategy games Broken Sword, Defender of the Crown, and Holy War in 1996. MUD
PC game SveaRike followed in 1997, while four strategy games for PC and PlayStation were released in 1997 and 1998: Knights and Merchants, Aoki Ookami to
Shiroki Mejika, Age of Empires, and C-EVO. Although most of them were set in
the Western Middle Ages, we do find among them the first game set in the Far East,
Aoki Ookami to Shiroki Mejika; the first game that stretches out over two (14th and
15th) centuries, Patrician, as well as the first game that takes place in one specific
year, SveaRike (1523). During the early years of the 21st century, in the main PC
strategy games category, an average of five titles per year were released, numbering
a total of exactly 41 titles of this style between 2000 and 2007. As previously
mentioned, the number of scripts that refer specifically to a date, year or event,
continues to increase.
In 2008, the popularity of medieval-style games started to become more patent.
Ten new titles were released in this same year, 12 in 2009, 9 in 2010, and 19 in 2011;
in 2012, however, the numbers soared to 65. These included all types of genre,
platforms, and smartphones (The Pilgrims Codex). Although PC gaming was paramount, the spread of PlayStation and Xbox games was also significant as was the
case with hybrid video games. In early 2013, nonetheless, we find the first purely
historical online game: Reino Medieval (reinomedieval.net).
From a more diachronic perspective, we can see how a mere six games have
maintained consumer interest throughout the years: the strategy game Civilization
(19912010); the first simulation game of a purely historical nature Patrician
(19922010); as well as the strategy-based video games C-EVO (19992009), Travian (20042012), Imperia (20052012), and Khan Wars (20052013). In sum, we
reiterate that the period 20082012 was extraordinarily prolific for the production of
hybrid medieval-style games, particularly 2012 and, while widespread online PC
gaming may be one of the reasons for this increase in purely historical titles, new
generation consoles may only partially explain the success of hybrid games (see
Table 3).

Platforms
Table 3 shows the life span of the gaming platforms explored. The PC is the longest
running platform for hybrid games in the 32-year span of this study, with the first
hybrid PC video game being released in 1980; in the case of Nintendo, the first game
appeared in 1986 and in 1996 in the case of PlayStation. The remaining platforms
have had a more limited impact on the release of this type of game, thanks to the
rapid out dating of the first generation. In the case of purely historical video games,
the longest running platform is also the PC with the fact the first video game being
released for PC in 1985; whereas in the case of PlayStation, this occurred 5 years
later. While Xbox has gained importance over the years, the impact of other hosting

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Table 4. Hybrid (a) and Purely Historical (b) Video Games Life Years.
Genre (a)

Years (a)

Genre (b)

Years (b)

26
27
30
31
114

Strategy
Adventure
Role
Simulation
Total

27
22
22
16
87

Fight
Action
Strategy and role
Adventure
Total
Note. See database.

platforms has been scarce, especially in the case of portable consoles and other
modern devices, for example, GBA, N-GAGE, DS, or Wii.

Genres
Table 4 shows the life span of the genres of video games discussed in this section.
Most of the hybrid titles analyzed come under the category of action and fight
games, followed by role-playing, strategy, MUDa hybrid genre of the latter
twoand adventure games in general. By the time of our analysis in 2013, Fight
games had been on the market for 26 years; action games for 27 years; role-playing,
strategy, and MUD games for 30 years; and adventure video games for 31 years.
Together with sports-oriented genres, games exploiting logical thinking skills are the
most recent genre in the medieval game domain. Purely historical video games, on
the other hand, tend to rely heavily on the strategy genre, followed by fight- and
adventure-type games.
Regarding their life span, by 2013, strategy games had been marketed for 27
years and adventure games for 21 years, while fight games, despite their success,
only started their commercial life recently (2012). Role playing games are not
numerous but had been on sale for 22 years. Within this category, sports, educational, and arcade games are scarce, as is the case with simulation games, despite
being available for over 16 years.

Temporal Historical Setting

Table 5 shows the temporal historical setting of the video game genres discussed
below. Most of the hybrid video games analyzed, just over 97%, are set in medieval
times and make no specific allusion to a period or an event. Only the six (1.3%)
mentioned earlier in this article can be framed within a particular year, century, or
period. Judging by our data, we may conclude that aligning historical events and
fiction is by no means an easy task for game developers. The plot of hybrid games
does not adapt well to specific facts or events. On the contrary, these plots build on
generalities and commonplace occurrences but fail to relate them to exact events or
periods, probably due to the fact that these games appeal to fantasy elements, where

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Table 5. Hybrid (a) and Purely Historical (b) Video Games Temporal Setting of the
Argument.
Period (a)
Middle Ages
Concrete period
East Middle Ages
Total

Percentage (a)
97.42
1.29
1.29
100

Period (b)
Middle Ages
Hispanic M.A.
Concrete period
Total

Percentage (b)
78.72
2.47
18.81
100

Note. See database.

scenarios, characters, and imaginary plots all combine. Accordingly, the use of dates
or real events may distort the gaming experience of those more interested in the
fantasy element but with a medieval flavor. In a similar fashion, most purely historical games included in this studyover 78%are also set in generic medieval
times. Our research shows that, as is the case in hybrid games, purely historical titles
also try to avoid putting too much emphasis on one specific event or date (only five
games provide details about specific dates). For the most part, these games pertain to
the strategy genre, which may be the clue to explain the lack of adherence to specific
historical events.

Discussion
One of the main contributions of our research is the development of a chronology of
video games set in the Middle Ages based on a taxonomy which establishes a
difference between purely historical and hybrid titles. In this sense, our research
is informed by previous efforts that have examined the history of video as an
essential element to understand the culture of video gaming and its role in a broader
digital culture. Our study shows that the number of hybrid games (462) double that
of purely historical video games (202). In terms of shelf life or market durability,
hybrid games have also outdone purely historical games, as we see that four hybrid
games have withstood market pressure for over three decades, while only two purely
historical video games have been available to consumers for 20 years. The PC is the
favorite system for developers and gamers in both types of medieval video game
examined and, currently gaining particular momentum, is the concept of online PC
gaming. Within the category of purely historical games, the strategy genre has been
widely adopted, while the more popular hybrid games have relied more on action
and adventure genres, drawing greatly on elements of fantasy. All in all, fight games,
strategy, role-playing (MUD), and adventure genres are widely spread across both
types of medieval games. Imagination and mythological discourse influenced by
literature and the film industry are only found in hybrid titles. In the words of
Lindtner and Dourish (2011), the medieval past has given way to the promise
of play for many gamers, unleashing the imagination and facilitating the interplay
of cognitive processes and mythological discourses for both developers and players.

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In general terms, all the games analyzed are set in the Middle Ages, which
contributes to the understanding of the complexities of different periods and historical events of the overall era. We saw for instance that in purely historical video
games, renowned battles are the favorite background for quite a lot of the scripts
analyzed and 1066, the Battle of Hastings in which William the Conqueror, Duke of
Normandy, invaded England appears to be of special relevance. The years before
and after the battle itself are also frequently considered in the plot lines of these
games. The Knights Templar and The Crusades are likewise commonplace in many
of the titles in this study.
Our study has found a wide range of story lines and plots (Lopez, Encabo, &
Jerez, 2011), although, given their nature, purely historical video games have
naturally placed more emphasis on plots with abundant references to dates, periods of time, and events. In hybrid games, less concerned with the specifics of
time, extensive use is made of three styles of story line or character: vampireinspired plots, Robin Hood (style adventures), and the Tolkien matter. The
most oft-repeated plot is that of a character who enters a world of fantasy and
mystery and moves on to achieve a goal typically related to the defense and
protection of this same world, rescuing another character or unravelling a mystery
or riddle. Our study shows that the plot line in hybrid games is generally tightly
linked to the genres of adventure, role-playing, and action. In purely historical
games, on the other hand, the plot revolves around warfare and the battlefield,
where real events are portrayed or simulated. Curiously enough, in neither of our
classifications of pure or hybrid games do, we find skills-oriented games or board
games where users interact in a medieval setting and are challenged to overcome
the enemy through sheer skill or tactics, for example, win a chess game or solve a
puzzle. We can also conclude that those video games that have been most successful commercially draw an extremely thin line between medieval times and
fantasy. As discussed, these tend to be online PC games, a trend which is likely to
continue for quite a few years.
Our results suggest that there exists a simulated reality that, as is the case with any
other type of fiction, triggers a narrative that (a) is sometimes portrayed through
facts, situations, architecture, civilizations, and life styles, and whose main referents
are historical events and (b) only on occasions explicitly acknowledges the underlying mythological story line. From this perspective, the analysis of fantasy put
forward by Goetz (2012) opens up new areas for the exploration of video games
titles set in the Middle Ages. This author maintains that the fantasies commonly
found in video games are of two types:
a tether fantasy [can be defined] as the pleasurable process of oscillating between
feelings of safety and feeling exposed, dwelling on the boundaries that separate the
two. In turn, an accretions fantasy can be defined as the pleasurable process of
correcting a weak or vulnerable body by accruing objects from the world of gameplay. (p. 420)

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The analysis of the titles included in our database suggests that these fictional
narratives are fed by fears and social worries and are portrayed through video games,
so that they can be role-played by gamers in the framework of a plot or narrative.
Goetz (2012) highlights that, for example, the use of the architecture of the old city
walls contributes to the portrayal of the tensions of the frontier life that, in turn, can
be mirrored in our society in terms of our modern fortified homes.
On a final note, with reference to current debate on the validity of video games as
loyal or reliable reflections of historical knowledge and the potential pedagogical
application of these in History classrooms, we are also of the opinion that debate
should take a step further to consider the fact that this media contributes to the
configuration of our understanding of the Middle Ages as a complex concept deriving from signifiers associated with events of History, such as those represented in
purely historical games, but that can also evolve and benefit from the elements of
fantasy that we find in hybrid games, as Rodrguez Garca (2008) suggests. At the
same time, we feel the concept of the Middle Ages should be given particular
consideration in the domain of video game culture, following the thinking of Lindtner and Dourish (2011), in that resulting semantics are subject to and highly dependent upon the concept of interactivity and exchange of knowledge between players
in a very broad and diverse range of titles and influenced by a diverse range of
contextual features.
Note
1. According to the industry figures offered by GfK Marketing Services and Pan European
Game Information on the top 10 video games sold during the Christmas season, where the
highest sales volume is centered, each year one or two titles inspired by the Middle Ages
can be found: Assassins Creed III (2012), Assassins Creed: Revelations (2011), World of
Warcraft: Cataclysm (2010), Assassins Creed: The Brotherhood (2010), Assassins Creed
(2008), World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (2007), Prince of Persia: The Two
Crowns (2006), Prince of Persia: The Soul of the Warrior (2005), Lord of the Rings:
Return of the King: (2004), Prince of Persia: Arenas T (2004), and Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers (2003). See http://www.aevi.org.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article: This study is part of a larger research project entitled
History and Video Games: The Impact of New Entertainment Media on the Knowledge
of Medieval Times, funded by the Ministerio de Economa y Competitividad, Government of Spain. Ref. HAR2011-25548.

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21

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Author Biographies
Cesar San Nicolas Romera is an associate professor of audiovisual communication and
advertising at the University of Murcia (Spain). His research interests include cultural and
social-semiotics, advertising, communication strategies, branding, and video games.
ngel Nicolas Ojeda is an associate professor of advertising and public relations at
Miguel A
The Catholic University of Saint Anthony, Murcia (Spain). His research interests include
social-semiotic analysis of advertising, digital advertising, advertising targeting kids and
teenagers, advertising, and video games.
Josefa Ros Velasco is a PhD candidate in history of philosophy at the Universidad Complutense, Madrid (Spain). Her research interests include evolutionary psychology, mental
disorder, anthropology of boredom, paleoneurology, video games, and the Middle Ages.

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