Line #13 HistoricalDomainCharacter/VideoGames


1	%
2	%
3	%
4	%
5	%% This page has been alphabetized, by video game title. Please add all new examples accordingly.
6	%
7	%
8	%
9	%
10
11	* ''VideoGame/AbyssOdyssey'' features [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccolo_Paganini Niccolò Paganini]] (or possibly a nightmare-born version of him). He apparently earned his virtuosity through a DealWithTheDevil, and serves as a MiniBoss.
12	* ''VideoGame/AIDungeon2'': You can make ANY historical figure to appear in your story. It's not just their name, the AI often knows about their background and history. Though their personality is sometimes radically different. Even when you summoned vicious dictators or murderers in real life, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade they can be kind enough to answer your questions or care for you]].
13	* The whole point of ''VideoGame/AkaSeka'' -- a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover of virtually all periods of Japanese history. UsefulNotes/AbeNoSeimei, Prince Shōtoku, UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga, [[UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi Hijikata Toshizō]] and Akutagawa Ryūnosuke all hang out together? You bet!
14	* Aside from Kit, Hodge, and (possibly) Kit's barely seen parents, the entire named cast of ''VideoGame/AnotherSight'' are actual historical figures. Sort of justified, since the game takes place beneath 1899 London, but it's still strange to have the niece of Thomas Edison be directed to Nikola Tesla by his next door neighbor Claude Monet.
15	* The canceled MOBA game ''VideoGame/ArenaOfFate'' features multiple historical characters from PopularHistory. Such as UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}}, Jesse James, UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla...
16	* Every title in ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' features historical characters, ranging from the famous UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart, Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, and UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}} to the more obscure Garnier de Naplouse, Jacopo de Pazzi, Thomas Hickey, and Benjamin Hornigold.
17	* Louis Philippe I appears (as a penguin) in ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney''.
18	* The first installment of the ''Book Travelers'' series from Creator/ElephantGames features Creator/CharlotteBronte as a significant character; she's essentially the quest giver of the plot.
19	* ''VideoGame/BungoToAlchemist'' features many characters based on Japanese Literature.
20	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' has Jonas Savimbi and Manuel Noriega, both of whom were actual prominent figures during the time period of the game's flashback missions.
21	* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings II'' has a lot of these, including the majority of characters that can be selected as your start character. Many even have Wikipedia links (or, in mods with fictional settings, links to the appropriate wiki) in their character pages. As gameplay [[ButterflyOfDoom diverges from history]] (generally after the first generation or two of your dynasty), there will be none left.
22	* ''VideoGame/DongDongNeverDie'' features [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Zhuge Liang]] as one of the fighters. [[ShowSomeLeg His intro has him showing off one of his legs.]]
23	* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' has an InUniverse example with ''The Spear of Hessarian,'' a trashy book Isabela reads and offers to lend to [[PlayerCharacter Hawke]]'s sister Bethany. It features the Archon Hessarian and the DeityOfHumanOrigin Andraste in a... less than religious relationship. According to Isabela, it even has pictures.
24	* Leonardo da Vinci appears as a {{Bishonen}}, and Lisa del Giocondo as his love interest, in ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents''. The real Lisa was already married, but this is [[BellisariosMaxim not the kind of game where that matters]]. And it's not like he ever courted someone to the music of Queen, anyways.
25	* The third chapter of ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', "Suspicions of Conspiracy", is all about the protagonist, Anthony, and his efforts to warn Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}} the Frank of a plot to have him murdered. [[RealLifeWritesThePlot He naturally fails.]]
26	* [[Music/FryderykChopin Frederick Chopin]], in ''VideoGame/EternalSonata''.
27	* ''VideoGame/GenpeiToumaDen'' has the player controlling Taira no Kagekiyo, an actual historical figure from the Japan's Genpei War. [[note]]Famously told in both ''Literature/TheTaleOfGenji'' and ''The Tale of the UsefulNotes/{{Heike}}''.[[/note]] Here, he's been resurrected (after having died at the end of the Battle of Dan-no-ura) in order to take down his arch enemy Minamoto no Yoritomo, who was both the founder and first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan.
28	* ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'', being a period piece set in the early 1900s, is the first game to also include a real person in the cast -- namely [[Literature/IAmACat Natsume Sōseki]], already unhappy with his life in London but also finding himself accused of murder.
29	* ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'' is focused on UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi, and thus is full of historical figures both in and outside of that organization.
30	* ''VideoGame/HiddenExpedition'': The backstory of the final installment, ''A King's Line'', features [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward I of England]] as a significant figure. Justified, as the game focuses heavily on Welsh history and makes mention of Edward's annexation of Wales.
31	* ''VideoGame/{{Inkulinati}}'': Most of the famous Inkulinati fought as bosses are real figures from medieval history, mostly writers, theologians, or both, such as Dante Alighieri, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Hildegard of Bingen.
32	%%* ''VideoGame/JeanneDArc'': Practically the entire cast.
33	* ''VideoGame/KentuckyRouteZero'': One of the secondary characters, Lula Chamberlain, was a real-life obscure installation artist from Kentucky.
34	* The majority of the cast in Creator/{{Koei\|Tecmo}}'s ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' (based on ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', an epic detailing the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu Three Kingdoms period]] of ImperialChina) and ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' (based on Japan's UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod). Their crossover series, ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi'', throws even more examples from Chinese and Japanese history into the pile, such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daji Da Ji]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Ziya Taigong Wang]], [[UsefulNotes/MinamotoNoYoshitsune Yoshitune Minamoto]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taira_no_Kiyomori Kiyomori Taira]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himiko Himiko]] (debatably; see the ''VideoGame/{{Tomb Raider\|2013}}'' example below for more details), [[UsefulNotes/MusashiboBenkei Benkei]], and [[UsefulNotes/AbeNoSeimei Seimei Abe]], along with ([[VideoGame/BladestormTheHundredYearsWar a version of]]) UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc and ([[VideoGame/WarriorsLegendsOfTroy a version of]]) [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Achilles]].
35	* ''VideoGame/LegendOfAce'' features many {{Historical Domain Character}}s and mythological characters as heroes, ranging from Myth/KingArthur, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Heracles]], [[UsefulNotes/HattoriHanzo Hattori Masanari]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochizuki_Chiyome Mochizuki Chiyome]], [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Achilles]], etc. However, it also features several niche characters who are nonetheless from real history (or other niche myths/fictions) itself, such as (such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakano_Takeko (Nakano) Takeko]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley (Annie) Oakley]], [[UsefulNotes/WingChun Yim Wing Chun]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogier_the_Dane Ogier (the Dane)]], etc)
36	* ''VideoGame/LimboOfTheLost'' stars Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs, who certainly TookALevelInJerkass and is more or less nothing like the sea captain or family man he was.
37	* ''VideoGame/LionheartLegacyOfTheCrusader'' managed to incorporate Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, Creator/WilliamShakespeare, Cervantes, UsefulNotes/HernanCortez, UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc, Torquemada, and Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethI all into a single narrative, and even managed to HandWave most of them living within a few blocks of each other in 1588 Barcelona.
38	* ''VideoGame/TheLionsSong'': Real figures prominent during the Austrian cultural scene, like Creator/GustavKlimt and UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud, show up and play various roles in the story, such as Klimt being a mentor figure for Franz Markert, a rising painter.
39	* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'': In the Edo Japan chapter, two of Ode Iou's underlings are the ghosts of UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi and UsefulNotes/AmakusaShiro, brought back from the dead to serve his nefarious plans. [[spoiler: And in the end it turns out that the prisoner Oboromaru was sent to rescue is none other than UsefulNotes/SakamotoRyoma himself.]]
40	* ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' mod ''VideoGame/{{Europe 1200}}'' features an impressive cast of historical nobles and sovereigns from the era as faction's leaders and vassals. The potential party members include a mix of usually obscure historical characters, like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen Hildegard of Bingen]][[note]]this one is actually anachronistic, as she died before 1200 AD[[/note]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustace_the_Monk Eustace the Monk]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondel_de_Nesle Blondel de Nesle]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi Francis of Assisi]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Arabi Ibn Arabi]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raimbaut_de_Vaqueiras Raimbaut de Vaqueiras]], etc. Some of the others ones are either characters from medieval legends (Myth/RobinHood, Myth/WilliamTell, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobrynya_Nikitich Dobrynya Nikitich]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Koroghlu Koroglu]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogier_the_Dane Ogier the Dane]], etc.), and the remaining are either references to modern culture or totally made up (for example, Roger z Rykach is an {{Expy}} for [[Franchise/TheWitcher Geralt of Rivia]]).
41	* ''VideoGame/MyChildLebensborn'': [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakon_VII_of_Norway King Haakon VII]] gets a few mentions and happens to be visiting the small town in which the game is set on the very last day. One of the very last decisions made by the player is to decide whether or not to [[spoiler:allow their child to get a glimpse of him before the two of you leave town for good]].
42	* ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'':
43	** The game story's is kicked off when Irish-born seafarer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(pilot) William Adams]][[labelnote:*]][[AdaptationalNationality the historical Adams was English]][[/labelnote]] has his [[GuardianEntity Guardian Spirit]] Saoirse captured by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Kelley Edward Kelley]] because of her ability to sense Amrita, golden stones that are abundant in Japan and sought out by [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Queen Elizabeth]]. [[note]]The first mission, which involves William escaping the Tower of London, features [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Derrick Derrick the Executioner]] as a WarmUpBoss, by the way.[[/note]] Guided to Japan by a MagicCompass left behind by Saoirse, William meets and befriends UsefulNotes/HattoriHanzo, is given the suggestion to take up the name Anjin by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuroda_Yoshitaka Kuroda Kanbei]], is brought into the employ of UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu (who historically gave William the name Miura Anjin when appointing the sailor as his retainer), and eventually is drawn into [[UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod the greater conflict]] between Ieyasu and UsefulNotes/IshidaMitsunari, all while Kelley schemes to [[spoiler:revive UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga -- [[UnwantedRevival who is having none of it]] and goes back to the afterlife of his own accord after a brief scuffle with William]]. [[spoiler:Kelley himself is working for (and [[ArtificialHuman a creation of]]) [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee Sir John Dee]], who William decides to confront at the very end of the game.]] This isn't even getting into all the side missions (ranging from helping [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachibana_Ginchiyo Tachibana Ginchiyo]] find a gift for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachibana_Muneshige her hubby]] to saving [[YoungFutureFamousPeople a young]] UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi from [[{{Youkai}} demonic hordes]] after the Battle of Sekigahara), the true identity of several bosses ([[spoiler:the Yuki-Onna and Ogress are, respectively, Nobunaga's wife [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nohime Lady Nō]] and Ieyasu's wife [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Tsukiyama Senahime]], both resurrected by Kelley]]), or the HistoricalInJoke of [[spoiler:having UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide in hiding as the [[UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}} onmyoji]] Tenkai (with his apprentice Fuku being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Kasuga Lady Kasuga]] aka Saitō '''Fuku''', the daughter of one of his retainers)]].
44	** [[DownloadableContent DLC expansions]] see William return to Japan to prevent a possible rebellion by the [[UsefulNotes/DateMasamune Date clan]], battle against the forces of UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura in the Siege of Osaka, and finally [[spoiler:team up with Yukimura to take down [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yodo-dono Yodo-gimi]], who is so embittered by her tragic upbringing and hatred of the Tokugawa that she's hoarding Amrita and unleashing all kinds of supernatural horrors upon the land]]. All of which is [[TheChessmaster orchestrated]] by [[spoiler:Lady Maria, a Spanish spy sent to procure Amrita while plunging Japan into a CivilWar]]. They are not an actual historical character, but instead [[CompositeCharacter loosely based upon]] [[spoiler:a fictional concubine/mistress of Masamune's bearing the same name from Mitsuteru Yokoyama's ''Date Masamune'' manga and Sohachi Yamaoka's ''Tokugawa Ieyasu'' novel]] -- hence their first appearance in the story as [[spoiler:Masamune's foreign attendant]].
45	** ''VideoGame/Nioh2'' is[[spoiler:, [[StealthSequel for the most part]],]] a prequel focusing on the exploits of a younger ([[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain and still heroic]]) UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi, who is dead by the time of the original but has a VillainousLegacy carrying on into the narrative [[spoiler:much like Nobunaga]]. [[spoiler:The reality is a little more complicated: [[CollectiveIdentity "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" is an identity shared between two people]]. One half of this duo is the PlayerCharacter Hide, who is genuinely a good person. The other is their friend Kinoshita Tokichiro (a name the historical Hideyoshi went by when coming of age and serving the Imagawa clan), a PluckyComicRelief type whose ambition to become the shogun makes him an easy target for manipulation. This results in them becoming far more ruthless and cruel, going on to commit the various atrocities Hideyoshi is known for in the first game]]. Several other characters who were not present in ''Nioh'' (usually for [[PosthumousCharacter similar reasons]]) appear here, such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azai_Nagamasa Azai Nagamasa]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oichi Oichi]], as do [[spoiler:younger versions of Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, and Nō]].
46	* Creator/HPLovecraft appears as a playable character in ''VideoGame/OhSirTheInsultSimulator''; [[AttackItsWeakPoint his sore-spot]] is insults about his racism and/or boring and mundane things ("Your cousin's car smells of '''an ordinary pigsty''' and your beloved auntie '''is racist'''!").
47	* ''VideoGame/Onmyoji2016'' has Abe no Seimei and Minamoto no Hiromasa who both go through HistoricalBeautyUpgrade and, in the latter's case, a great change in image, from a renowned musician to a MageMarksman.
48	* The first ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'' has a fat UsefulNotes/{{Cleopatra\|VII}} who decided to have her slaves build a pyramid... to lose weight and impress UsefulNotes/MarkAntony.
49	* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'', Ryuji and Yusuke have real people as their eponymous Personas -- William Kidd from the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy and UsefulNotes/IshikawaGoemon, respectively.
50	* In the Creator/{{Sierra}} city-building game ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'', you play your way through all of the ruling dynasties of ancient Egypt; this includes the final ruling house, the Ptolemies, if you add the {{expansion pack}} ''Cleopatra: Queen of Kings''.
51	* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowGatOutOfHell'' features Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington teaming up with some of the history's worst criminals: UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}}, UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler, and Creator/WilliamShakespeare.
52	* Used pretty regularly in ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown''. UsefulNotes/HattoriHanzo, UsefulNotes/{{Amakusa\|Shiro}}, UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson...
53	* Lincoln, Washington and Einstein are the only three specific, real life people (excluding the developers) that can be summoned in ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}''.
54	* Although he only appears in flashbacks, Creator/LeonardoDaVinci is (as the title suggests) heavily involved with the plot of ''VideoGame/SecretsOfDaVinciTheForbiddenManuscript''. One of the French kings is also a character in the game.
55	* [[UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod Everyone]] from ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara''.
56	* The ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series contains numerous examples, both well known and obscure, as heroes, villains, and cameo characters. Notably includes Edward Plunkett, Roger Bacon, Margaretha Zelle, Anastasia Romanov, Grigori Rasputin, Yoshiko and Naniwa Kawashima, T.E. Lawrence, UsefulNotes/AlCapone, and Elliot Ness. Many of these include some form of Historical Upgrade.
57	* ''VideoGame/TeslaTheWeatherMan'' features UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla and Creator/MarkTwain as the heroes and UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison as the villain.
58	* In ''VideoGame/TinStarChoiceOfGames'', you can personally correspond with [[UsefulNotes/AndrewJohnson President Andrew Johnson]] at one point. Other historical figures are mentioned in the narrative, but don't appear personally.
59	* The plot of ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' kicks off when a research vessel seeking out the legendary kingdom of Yamatai and its queen, Himiko, is wrecked in storms which [[spoiler:are revealed to be controlled by Himiko's restless spirit]]. Himiko is referenced by Chinese historical records dated to the 3rd century A.D., who have her ruling a kingdom called Yamatai-koku, and state that she died sometime around the year 248 A.D. So Himiko may have, in fact, really existed. Unfortunately the historical record is rendered even murkier by the fact that the earliest known Japanese histories (8th century A.D.) make no mention of her at all. The controversy and debate over Himiko and Yamatai's existence, which forms the basis of the game's backstory, is still a hot-button topic of debate among historians.
60	* The indisputable master of this trope has to be ''Martian Dreams'', a ''Worlds of VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' game. It features a plethora of 19th century big names in an adventure on Mars, including Sigmund Freud, Theodore Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, Marie Curie, and [[BigBad Rasputin]].
61	* All of the ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' games involve [[TheHero Nathan Drake]] and his friends following the written records of discoveries made by various famous explorers, each being mentioned in the historical backstories. ''[[VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune Drake's Fortune]]'' had UsefulNotes/SirFrancisDrake (who Nate claims to be a descendant of), ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves Among Thieves]]'' had [[Literature/TheTravelsOfMarcoPolo Marco Polo]], ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception Drake's Deception]]'' had [[Film/LawrenceOfArabia T.E. Lawrence]], and ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd A Thief's End]]'' had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Every Henry Avery]].
62	* ''VideoGame/Vampyr2018'' features [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marshal,_1st_Earl_of_Pembroke William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke]], a real-life KnightInShiningArmor that served under five different kings, and here is revealed to be an ancient vampire. [[spoiler:The main character gets to meet him in the ending after the final boss.]]
63	* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' has Smiling Jack, who is heavily implied to be the real life 18th century pirate, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Jack "Calico" Jack Rackham]], who has survived into the modern day via being turned into a vampire.
64	* ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' has a mysterious African-American soldier named J. A talented rock guitarist who plays his guitar in his left hand, brews his own acid, and [[spoiler:[[DyingMomentOfAwesome goes out]] playing a rock version of "The Star Spangled Banner"]]. The more astute may catch on to [[Music/JimiHendrix his identity]].

Context HistoricalDomainCharacter / VideoGames