Open-world games often like to go back into the past for inspiration. Ghost of Tsushima was such a hit mostly for how it satisfied gamers’ desire to adventure through an open-world Japan of the past. Assassin’s Creed is built entirely on open-world maps of various historical periods. While many eras have been milked for some open-world gameplay opportunities, there is still plenty left to mine that developers have not touched.
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When it comes to dark historical periods that require a lot of sensitivity and historical accuracy to be done respectfully, it makes sense that developers would be hesitant to explore them. While gaming can certainly handle sensitive subject matter, AAA gaming is perhaps not quite ready to tackle some of the themes and topics it would have to cover if it used certain settings.
6 The Soviet Union
The Paranoia And Cold War Politics
There have been plenty of World War 2 games that take place on the Eastern Front, but none have ever opened up the map for players. Outside the war, there are more than seventy years of history to explore from the USSR’s beginnings to its collapse.
Something taking place in the 1930s or 1940s could explore the massive paranoia of living in a police state under Joseph Stalin’s iron-fisted rule. Go a little later into the 1960s and onward, and there is an opportunity to dissect the Cold War politics that dominated so much of the news in those decades, only from the other side.
5 1980s New York City
Every Decade In This City Has Its Own Unique Vibe
Plenty of open-world games have taken place in New York City, and have covered decades from the 30s and 40s up until the modern day. However, the 1980s have been left out of the equation for a while. Even the 1970s got some love from Drive 76.
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There was so much cultural development in that decade that it is just ripe for a detailed open-world game letting players immerse themselves in the environment. It was so multifaceted, any genre could work, whether it be a GTA-style action game or a grounded experience more focused on dialogue.
4 19th Century Australia
More Intense Than The Wild West
Anybody who ever watched The Proposition, written by famous songwriter Nick Cave, gets the impression that 19th century Australia was a wild and brutal place. A game set in this period with the same tone as that film might make Red Dead Redemption look like a kids cartoon.
Australia is known for having harsh regulations about content in video games, yet some of their most famous movies border on transgressive with their violence and language. It is the home to Mad Max, after all. There would also be a lot of historical baggage to dive into regarding the origins of the country.
3 The American Civil War
There Are Plenty Of War Games, But Not An Open-World Story
Assassin’s Creed 3 was an interesting departure for the series at the time, since it took the action to the United States during the Revolutionary War. The series has not returned to the USA for a while since then. Whether that series did it or another one decided to take another crack at it, an open-world game set during the American Civil War would offer a lot of ground to explore.
If it was epic enough, it could take place before the war broke out and cover the entire conflict up until its conclusion. It would be a hard topic to cover, but it might go a long way toward making modern audiences understand just how grueling and brutal it was, reinforcing the idea that it’s not something that should ever be repeated.
2 Eastern Europe In The 1990s
It Was A Complicated Time Ripe For Great Stories
Ask any middle-aged person from a country like Ukraine or Lithuania what life was like in the 1990s, and they are bound to have some pretty interesting stories. The Soviet Union’s collapse led to years of economic struggle (which was already there before it collapsed) in addition to a cultural renaissance sparked by a newfound independence.
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Anyone from the United States or even Western European countries might not have been exposed to these stories and experiences. It is easy to imagine a game in the format of Like a Dragon taking place in Kyiv in the 1990s as the country goes through economic growing pains along with the rise of organized crime and oligarchs. However, it could also explore the personal, human stories during this period. If it came from a team of people from these countries, it could go a long way towards dispelling negative stereotypes.
For reference, films like Oleh Sentsov’s
Rhino
and Irina Tsilyk’s
Me and Felix
(or
Rock Paper Handgrenade
) are great movies set in the 1990s in Ukraine that show two radically different sides of the same coin.
1 Pre-Columbian South And Central America
Before Colonial Times
Few pieces of fiction take place in the Americas before European settlers came, with the biggest example that’s easiest to recall is Apocalypto. Since few stories have gone here, that makes it the perfect stomping ground for a new open-world game. There would have to be proper research and attention done in the name of historical accuracy.
If done well and respectfully, it would be a fascinating game that could serve to be just as educational as it is entertaining. The gameplay possibilities when it comes to the technology these civilizations used are intriguing.
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