Games can transport players to any number of sci-fi, fantasy, or horror settings, but some of the best and biggest aim for realism and simulation. A notable number of highly anticipated AAA games coming in 2025 are opting for something in between imagined worlds and reality: Historical fiction games will be big in the coming year.
In games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players will be able to live out the fantasy of time-traveling to feudal Japan and living their own story as real-world samurai Yasuke and the shinobi Naoe. Players of Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 will write their own histories, thinking daily about the Roman empire of their dreams as Augustus, as freedom fighter and Union Army heroine Harriet Tubman, or as a dozen other military and thought leaders as they shape civilization to their liking.
In a surprising number of 2025 games, players will experience original fiction stories set against historical settings and events. Here are some of the highlights.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in 16th-century feudal Japan, during the final stage of the Sengoku period. Set against the backdrop of civil war and at the height of daimyo Oda Nobunaga’s power, players will assume dual roles as samurai Yasuke — based on the real-world person — and kunoichi Naoe.
Like the TV series Shōgun, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will showcase the influence of Portuguese traders and Christian missionaries, who helped bring technologies like cannons and long guns to the island nation. It may also show key historical events like Nobunaga’s attack on the ikki of the Iga province, where Naoe is from. Those events will be woven into Assassin’s Creed’s ongoing conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order, adding a layer of fiction to real-life historical events.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be released on Feb. 14 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game will also be available for Mac and iPad.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7
Civilization 7 will let players mix and match leaders and civilizations — or civs — in ways that distort history. Benjamin Franklin and Confucius can meet and potentially go to war as players rewrite history, blending the cultural traditions, architecture, and technology of wide-ranging civilizations as they evolve across eras. Unlike past Civilization games, players will have a broader selection of leaders, which now include philosophers, scientists, politicians, and religious figures, not simply heads of state.
While much of Civ 7’s historical fiction writing will be done by players themselves as they grow their settlements into sprawling civilizations, Firaxis’ strategy game may offer the most varied and interesting version of turning history into (fan) fiction.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 will be released on Feb. 11. It’s launching simultaneously on PC and consoles — PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X — for the first time in the franchise.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Set in 15th-century medieval Europe, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will let players explore an open-world Bohemian Paradise and the city of Kuttenburg as blacksmith Henry of Skalitz.
Henry will undertake a “journey to avenge his murdered parents, taking him from aspiring warrior to rebel” in Warhorse Studios’ sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The game’s fictional story will be set against the Hussite Wars — and Henry will face Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg and his allies.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will be released on Feb. 4 on PS5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Ghost of Yōtei
Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Tsushima was grounded in the real-world story and setting of Tsushima Island. The game was set during the first Mongol invasion of Japan, and starred Jin Sakai, a fictional samurai.
Ghost of Yōtei will be set more than 300 years after the events of the original game, and will once again utilize a real-world Japanese setting for its story. But Sucker Punch hasn’t said much about what Ghost of Yōtei protagonist Atsu will be doing in the sequel. Here’s what the studio has said, as it relates to the PlayStation 5 game’s historical fiction setting.
“Our story is set in the lands surrounding Mount Yōtei, a towering peak in the heart of Ezo, an area of Japan known as Hokkaido in present day,” wrote senior communications manager Andrew Goldfarb on the PlayStation Blog. “In 1603, this area was outside the rule of Japan, and filled with sprawling grasslands, snowy tundras, and unexpected dangers. It’s a far cry from the organized samurai clans who lived in Tsushima, and it’s the setting for an original story we can’t wait to tell.”
Ghost of Yōtei will be released sometime in 2025.
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra
Featuring an original story set during World War II, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra will star two superheroes of the era: Captain America and Black Panther. Fighting alongside Howling Commandos member Gabriel Jones and Wakandan Spy Network leader Nanali, the two WWII-era heroes will battle the forces of Hydra — Marvel’s Nazi stand-ins — in Occupied Paris.
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra will be the first game from Skydance New Media, which is led by Amy Hennig, former creative director of the Uncharted series, and Electronic Arts veteran Julian Beak. The studio announced its Marvel project in 2021 as “a narrative-driven, blockbuster action-adventure game, featuring a completely original story and take on the Marvel Universe.” Expect era-appropriate warfare boosted by the magical technology of Wakanda and inventor Howard Stark.
Players will get their hands on Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra sometime in 2025.
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