Fantasy Counterpart Culture / Video Games

The following have their own pages:

• Warcraft

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A-C

• The Ace Combat series loves these.
  • At the most blatantly obvious, the Osean Federation is pretty much the United States with a dash of Japan in terms military elements, with the branches of their armed forces explicitly called Defense Forces. Their overall ethnic composition is also somewhat mixed between the two countries, which can be seen with Wiseman (African-American), Kei Nagase (Japanese) and Albert Genette (American name, Japanese appearance).
  • Despite its name being very close to the US (adding a C makes it very obvious), Emmeria is Canada with a bit of the United Kingdom, most noticeable in the flag (with a star instead of a leaf and painted blue) architecture, military equipment and lore, specifically the legend of the Golden King, which shows similarities to the story of King Arthur. Culturally however, they're closer in spirit to Italy in terms of place names and surnames for a number of characters.
  • Yuktobania is the Soviet Union, being a federation of sorts and, following the fall from grace of Belka, the other big superpower alongside Osea.
  • Estovakia is Yugoslavia fused with Romania, fitting well into the Yugoslav theme as many aces, both major and minor have names derived from the former Yugoslavia and Romania, coupled with a Civil War that appears to share some parallels (albeit loosely) to The Yugoslav Wars.
  • Belka is, despite having a flag very close to the Tsarist Russia one (it's the exact same save for a thin yellow stripe), Germany over three different time periods; they're technically a Principality (evoking the time of the Kaisers), with the Fatherland and Workers Party/Liberal Democratic Party in AC0 Belka, and later Grey Men in AC5, as respectively a lite Nazi Germany and West Germany with secret Nazi sympathizers, with the "Grey Men" being similar to the Nazi Party's own Werwolf program. The latter case is especially apparent in the fact that Belka even has its own version of the East/West Germany split, with South Belka being ceded as North Osea after the Belkan War. On a grimmer note, the bombing of Hoffnung (a surgical strike aimed at the local industries that turned into a total carpet-bombing of the city) evokes the bombing of Dresden. Their skill at engineering and science, permanent meddling in world affairs, omnipresent scheming and nationalism also makes them a bit too close for comfort of modern China and Russia.
  • Ustio is a country who broke away from Belka, like some did with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of WW1, making them a kit bashed version of Poland with a mountainous flavor. Their flag also evokes the Czech Republic.
  • Sapin is Spain and Delarus is Belarus, if that wasn't entirely clear.
  • Wellow is geographically a carbon copy of Greenland.
  • Nordennavic, with its heavy industry, strict neutral diplomatic policy and cold climate, is a dead ringer for Finland, Sweden and Norway.
  • North Point is geographically protected from invaders, has a strong military for its size, is extremely neutral and frequently hosts peace talks, making them Switzerland on an island instead of a mountain range.
  • Aurelia and Leasath appear to represent the entirety of South America (with Aurelia as Argentina/Chile and Leasath as Brazil) with some Cajun influence as hinted by some of the Deep South accents some characters posses.
  • The ISAF in AC4 is ambiguously the European Union and the Balkans.
  • Erusea is France; like Belka, its incarnations in the different games is based on previous history, as Erusea in AC4 is closer in spirits to Napoleonic and Vichy France (being a military junta with a parliament, leading military conquests out of economic necessity) while Erusea in AC7 appears to be based on both incarnations of the post-Napoleonic Kingdom of France (in that it was implied that ISAF reinstated the Erusean monarchy) and the July Monarchy (in that the current heir of Erusea was not a direct descendant of the previous king but was of blood relation). Erusea is also made up of various former independent countries that were assimilated at gunpoint, like Napoleonic France (who turned conquered nations into puppet states) and historical France (who assimilated other nations via marriage between rulers, diplomacy and political games); fittingly, while the majority of Erusean characters have French names, others are all over the place with English, Spanish, Portugese and Vietnamese, to name a few.
  • The IUN evoke both the United Nations with their peacekeeping role and NATO with their use by Osea as a proxy military force.
  • The city of Seletapura in Ace Combat 7 has been compared to Singapore. Seletapura was a third world city before its economy began to prosper with the construction of the nearby Space Elevator, giving it first world standards. It's located in an unknown area of the Usean continent, giving a parallel to how Singapore was ejected from Malaysia in 1965. Singapore started off with a struggling economy after its independence, but has since become a major economic center for Asia.
  • Strangereal's lack of nuclear proliferation (only Belka and Erusea have built nuclear weapons, with a few dozen tactical bombs and two MIRVs for the former and only neutron tactical warheads for the latter) and omnipresent other superweapons gives us a subversion; characters in The Belkan War and especially The Unsung War are always both horrified and extremely critical of the use or even simple ownership of nukes, falling straight into Nuclear Weapons Taboo; an attitude downright bizarre to players, who lived in a world (or even country for players who live in nuclear-armed states) with hundreds of nukes. On the contrary, things like the SOLG (a balistic missile launcher inside a space station), the Dragonet/Scinfaxi/Alicorn-class ships (aircraft carrier submarines with balistic missile launch capacities), Excalibur (a laser cannon able to shoot targets hundreds of kilometers away), the Aiagon/Hraesvelgr/Arsenal Bird/Sphyrna (a functional and fully armed Airborne Aircraft Carrier, the third one including laser weaponry and fully piloted by AI) or Zone Of Endless/Hugin and Munin (a borderline self-aware Artificial Intelligence for combat drones who can update itself in battle and, later, remote control automated factories) are treated as severe but normal problems in Strangereal, while this would leave every military in the real world in seizures wondering how anyone thought that was a smart idea to leave a country build such a thing. The weapons are justified in-universe as most of them being designed to protect the planet against asteroids rather than invading armies (Stonehenge, Megalith, Chandelier, and, retroactively, Fortress Intolerance^note it didn't have a story purpose until the Updated Re-release), but apparently everyone missed the unfortunate loophole that guns which could take out city-sized asteroids could easily be turned against anyone the weapons' owners didn't particularly like. Assault Horizon plays it straight with Trinity, a fairly tame superweapon by Ace Combat standards (a bomb with the blast radius and destructive power of a small nuke but without radioactive fallout, with only 4 of them built) but the main concern of the whole game.
• The building and unit designs for all four nations in the series Advance Wars are based on World War II-era combatants: Orange Star is the USA, Blue Moon is Soviet Russia with a dash of Canada, Green Earth is Germany with a splash of mainland Europe, and Yellow Comet is Japan. Interestingly, none of the four nations are villainous. The bad guys, Black Hole, have no earth parallels and are designed to appear off-world or alien. In the separate story of Days of Ruin, Rubinelle is the USA (with Brenner's Wolves and the New Rubinelle Army being separate tastes of Eagleland) and Lazuria is Russia. Similarly, you have the Western Frontier (American), Tundran Territories (Russian), Xylvania (Germany/Romania), Solar Empire (Japan), and Anglo Isles (England) in Battalion Wars.
• The Age of Decadence: Has Rome, albeit a (previously) more Low Fantasy version of it. Specifically, Rome After the End, where city states fight over what few scraps remain of their golden age. Other countries and cultures are called by their commonly used names ("Kemet" for Egypt, the Egyptian name for it) or not even changed. The Phrygians, for instance.
• The Azracs of Age of Wonders are a combination of the Arabs and the ancient Egyptians. In the sequel each of their successors is more clearly based on one of the two, the Tigrans being Egyptian and the Nomads being Arabian. And the Humans are late medieval Europe, as always.
• Arc the Lad, which had among others Romalia (Germany), Millmana (somewhat like Columbia), Seirya (Japan) and Aldia (United States). Aldia in particular had its main city, Prodias, as a direct parody of New York right down to a Statue of Liberty equivalent and the World Trade Center towers. This same city is subject to an aerial terrorist attack by a crew that includes an Arabic looking man with a robe and a long beard — in a game made before 9/11.
• Arknights: Practically every country in Arknights is in some way or another based on a country or a cultural region, with the only known exception being Aegir, the underwater Lovecraft Country.
  • The Ursus Empire is based off Russia. Its national symbol is a two-headed eagle, much like the Russian coat of arms. All recruitable natives from Ursus have bear motifs and their names are spelled in Cyrillic instead of Latin in the Chinese version. Ursus recently lost a war to the Japan counterpart, Higashi, in the game's backstory as a reflection of the Russo-Japanese war.
  • Lungmen and Yan are analogues for Hong Kong and China, respectively. Lungmen is a city allowed special economic and cultural freedom where a majority of its population speaks the Chinese dialect of Cantonese, unlike the imperial mainland of Yan using standard Mandarin Chinese and holding a tight grip over its population. A notable feature of Lungmen are the Infected slums, which is its own distinct zone within the city and more beholden to criminals and local leaders than the actual city council government, calling to mind Hong Kong's Walled City of Kowloon.
  • The empire of Victoria is meant to be Great Britain as its capital city is called Londinium after the old name for London, Victorian is explicitly stated to be the equivalent of English in the Rainbow Six Siege Crossover, and its nobility are dragon, lion, and unicorn people all based off the national animals of the four regions of the United Kingdom. The second storyline starts when the equivalent of Northern Ireland, Tara, starts engaging in local unrest via the group known as Dublinn bombing cities across the region.
  • Laterano is Vatican with a bit of Switzerland mixed in. Its native Sankta population is a race of angels and are stereotyped by other nations to be pious but close-minded. Guns are so symbolic of Laterano that every citizen is entitled at least one firearm for self-defense. The Laterano Guard, famous for their halberds, mirrors the real-life Pontifical Swiss Guard.
  • Kjerag is a mix of mountainous nations Switzerland and Tibet. The local geography is extremely mountainous, protecting them from invasions and Catastrophes, but molds the culture to become conservative and insular. While the fashion is primarily based on Tibetan and Nepalese culture, legends and cuisine are based off Swiss culture as they mention cheese fondue is a popular tourist attraction and the feared Tschagatta in their religion are from Swiss legend.
  • Siracusa is Italy, named after the Italian name for Syracuse. Not only does it feature a Planet of Hats where everyone shown so far hailing from there is in some way involved with the mafia, which are implied to control cities for themselves, it has a clever Genius Bonus in specifically making the wolf people its native race as wolves have never gone extinct in Italy.
• Actually acknowledged in Aselia the Eternal - The Spirit of Eternity Sword. The northern countries like Rakios are described as being European and Malorigan is compared to the Middle East, though we don't see much of it. There's also that pesky Empire to the southeast.
• The setting of Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan is based on central Africa (the developers are from Cameroon). Lampshaded in that one of the early-game Steam achievements (for completing the hero's wedding sequence) is called "Bantu Wedding."
• Battle Brothers:
  • It's strongly implied throughout the game that the setting takes place in an Expy of the Holy Roman Empire, which makes sense given how Overhype Studios is based within Germany. Ruled by a privileged collection of incredibly powerful and influential noble houses that vie for dominance of the game map, the lack of distinct kingdoms as opposed to noble houses was definitely not unlike how the Holy Roman Empire was less an absolute kingdom and more of a loosely-allied confederation of city-states that let the nobility vote on whom the ruling regent should be. This is in addition to the regular contests of power held between the Germanic counterparts and their northernly raiding neighbors (just like the rivalry between the Holy Roman Empire and Scandinavia). In addition, the setting has typically "Germanic" armor styles, with nearly all location names and several enemies such as Wiedergänger, Nachzehrer and Lindwurms (or Lindwürmer, to use the correct plural) being named in grammatically-correct German. It also shows up within the names of your mercenaries, of whom the vast majority are named of German origin. As an interesting side note, the setting is, to a lesser degree, strongly Celtic inspired, what with the usage of round shields and tribal tattoos to complement the largely Germanic setting.
  • The Ancient Dead's former empire is heavily based on Roman Empire with Egyptian mummy trappings; in addition to the implications held of such a cultural mix, the auxiliaries within the empire are based around the Germanic and Celtic tribes like the ones the real Roman Empire has conquered and absorbed.
  • The Barbarian Tribes encompassing most of the northern area of the map are also heavily inspired by the Scandinavian viking raiders of the Low Middle Ages, though with a much more tribal and, well, barbaric culture more befitting of Iron Age Scandinavia. Inhabiting the coldest and most northern climes of the map, the Warriors of North expansion pack even adds two new banners with a distinctly Nordic theme to it. Interestingly enough though, one of the banners introduced is actually inspired by the Kievan Rus', implying the extent of the barbarian kingdoms go beyond equivalence to just Scandinavia.
  • The Blazing Deserts DLC adds a southern civilization with Arabic and Persian trappings, made of three city states with Arabic-sounding names. The southern civilization is described as being scientifically more advanced than the northern factions, like medieval Arabic civilization was more advanced than medieval Christian Europe.
• The Romance Game Be My Princess revolves around the royalty of six kingdoms which are obviously based on real-world France, England, Japan, Germany, America, and Italy (albeit all with traditional monarchies, even the America analogue). There's also a looser counterpart to the Vatican, and the "Season 2" sequel adds analogues for Russia and Turkey.
• BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm presents a unique take on this trope. It’s set in the Internet, so instead of real-world cultures, we’re given fantasy counterparts of popular websites and online communities. The stereotypical traits of each site and its users are often parodied or examined in-depth. For instance, 4chan users like to play tricks, and are subject to Fantastic Racism; Wikipedia is a city of scholars, and seen as neutral territory by everyone else; and Tumblr is a leaderless commune struggling with the rise of a social justice cult.
• The entirety of Cris Tales is a High Fantasy version of Colombia, with each region in the game based on somewhere in Colombia, reflecting its history, culture, and indigenous people:
  • Narim is based on Villavicencio, as both are agricultural towns with an increasing industrial economy, were the site of major battles in war, and has its own major cathedral, though Narim's cathedral is visually based on Las Lajas Shrine.
  • St. Clarity is based on Barranquilla, a port metropolis with a history of corrupt politicians. Both also have impoverished districts whose water distribution systems cause these districts to get flooded periodically, and St. Clarity's cathedral resembles Iglesia San Nicolás.
  • Neva Tulira is based on Zipaquirá. Both have a history of salt mining, causing a culture of salt as a holy substance and a cathedral built in honor of salt, the directly-named Salt Cathedral. Just as Zipaquirá is home to the Muisca tribe, so is Neva Tulira to a race of Bird People. Zipaquirá is also the site of a Holy Week celebration with a big parade, just like the parade in Neva Tulira the townsfolk get excited about.
  • Cinder is based on Tolima, a region with the volcano Nevado del Ruiz. Just as the real-world town of Armero was destroyed by an eruption from this volcano, so was the destruction of Ceniza in Cris Tales. The city of Cinder, meanwhile, is based on Ibagué, which has its own cathedral, the Cathedral of Ibagué, and is home to the Panche peolpe, who have tense relationships with the Muisca, similar to how the Cinderians and Neva Tulirans have trouble seeing eye to eye.
  • Crystallis is based on Bogotá. Both are the largest cities and administrative centers of their territories, have universities that gather students from far away, and receive tourism from all over the world. Like how Bogotá has the Primatial Cathedral of Bogotá, where Colombia's Archbishop resides, the Cathedral of Crystallis is the headquarters of the Church of the Lady and where their leadership resides.
  • Rubies and sapphires play a major role in the plot of Cris Tales, just as how corundum-based gemstones are one of Colombia's major exports with the country leading the world in emerald mining.
  • The war against the Time Empress is based on La Violencia, a civil war fought in the 1940s and 1950s. Both derived from an attempted government takeover, and both resulted in the destruction of towns and villages and a large loss of life.

D-F

• Diablo does this pretty unabashedly:
  • The Monk's design is a strange mishmash of Russia and China, with some trace elements of India for flavor.
  • Lut Gholein is a city of clear Arab inspiration, on the edge of a desert and an important commercial port. The desert that surrounds it is full of ancient ruins and clearly Egyptian tombs, with monsters such as revived mummies, giant beetles and humanoid cats, as well as some elements more typical of Mesopotamia.
  • Kehjistan is a bit of an interesting case, as its main inspirations vary by region. Southern areas, such as the city of Kurast, take a lot of design cues from ancient and medieval Central America. Northern regions, on the other hand, which include Caldeum, Alcarnus, and Gea Kul, are Arabian-inspired as well.
  • Scosglen, if the name didn't give it away immediately, is a Scotirish highland, with strong Celtic influences in the form of ever-present carins, which parallels the design of Druid class who calls it home.
  • Towns in the Fractured Peaks and their inhabitants all have Slavic-sounding names, and most NPCs there speak with a Russian accent.
• Disco Elysium:
  • Revachol is a very obvious expy of Paris, with the failed communist uprising leading the ousting of the king and its crushing at the hands of the Coalition. That, and the random French lying around.
  • Graad is Russia, being the birthplace of the failed international communist revolution.
  • Seol is a textbook Interchangeable Asian Cultures case leaning towards Japan with their cutting-edge technology and isolationism.
  • Samara is, like Seol above, a mishmash of Asian countries albeit taking more from China and various Asian countries, with a strong socialist base as well as violent and bastardized martial arts.
  • Mesque is Mexico fused with Venezuela, an oil dictatorship (albeit right-leaning) known for its ruthless gangs and boiadero culture. Its language apparently mixes words from both Spanish and Portuguese, however.
  • Saramizira and Supramundi are South America with a dash of Southeast Asia, being known for cocaine production and being a hotbed for proxy wars.
  • Oranje is a blend between the Netherlands (being a country of navigators covered in canals) and the United States (being the biggest economy in the world and a military superpower, including mercenaries).
  • Sur-La-Clef is France with a few bits of the UK, being a major world power known for its unappealing food and Revachol being one of its former colonies.
• Dominions:
  • The human nation state of Arcoscephale is based on Ancient Greece, adding elements of Macedon in the Middle and Late Ages.
  • Atlantis start as generic frog-people from the crevices of the ocean, but in later ages take on a fantasy Inuit feel.
  • Berytos is an expy of Carthage and Phoenicia, complete with the dark-skinned elites and war elephants.
  • Caelum has a strong Zoroastrian and Persian influence.
  • C'tis is an ancient kingdom populated by Lizard Folk that takes cues from Ancient Egypt and Babylon.
  • Ermor is an vast cosmopolitan empire with legions of Hastati, Triarii and Principes, united in the worship of a benevolent healer prophet who sacrificed themselves and came Back from the Dead — a dead ringer for the Roman Empire. And then things go horribly wrong with their obsession with Necromancy and Ermor becomes an empire of undead Omnicidal Maniacs.
  • Hinnom/Ashdod/Gath is Ancient Canaan and the Biblical Israelites.
  • Ind has strong Indian influences in its palace courts culture and names, but interestingly it also has strong Central Asian influences.
  • Kailasa/Bandar Log/Patala is another Indian-inspired civilisation, but borrows exclusively from Vedic mythology.
  • Machaka borrows from ancient African cultures, and by the fourth game, is an expy for the Zulu empire.
  • Marignon is medieval western Europe, specifically the kingdoms of Spain and France.
  • Marverni are essentially magical Gauls with a strong druidic tradition like the ancient Britons.
  • The kingdom of Man is medieval Britain, blending the English and the Celtic influences together.
  • Mekone is an expy of ancient Sparta, and also a nod to the story of the Greek Titans — it is a kingdom of deformed and militaristic giants who rule over an underclass of human slaves, leading a divine war against the gods who defeated them long ago.
  • Mictlan is the Aztecs.
  • Nazca is the Inca empire with Winged Humanoid people and a ruling caste of mummified undead kings and queens.
  • Pyrène borrows a lot from Basque mythology, but there are also elements of prehistoric humans too.
  • Pythium is the Byzantine empire in early ages, but interestingly later ages add a dash of pre-Christian Rome.
  • Ragha is a nation of red-skinned humans with a culture like pre-Islamic Iran, or the Seljuk Turks.
  • Rus/Vanarus/Bogarus is heavily inspired by Slavic Mythology and the history of the Kievan Rus. Rus is more like Ancient Finland with its Baltic leanings and reverence for bears, while Vanarus is more like the realms of the Varangians, the legendary foreign bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors. Bogarus meanwhile is more like a contemporary portrayal of the Russian principalities, possessing gunpowder weapons and strange astral magics.
  • Therodos is the Greek city-states with a hint of the Cretans and Minoan island peoples.
  • T'ien Ch'i is generally influenced by the history and mythology of ancient China; specifically, the Han Dynasty in the Early Era, the Tang Dynasty in the Middle Era, and the Mongol-dominated Yuan Dynasty in the Late Era.
  • Ubar/Na'Ba are based on pre-Islamic Arabia, down to having captive genies as their ultimate fighting units in their armies.
  • Ulm, while initially based on Cimmeria in the Early Age, begins to more resemble medieval Germany in later ages. By the Late Age, Ulm transitions into Romania if it really were dominated by vampires.
  • Ur/Uruk is inspired by the myths and stories of ancient Mesopotamia and Sumeria.
  • Vanhelm/Midgard borrow from Norse Mythology and Norse culture. But Vanhelm also has Tolkien-esque Noldor elves as soldiers for her armies.
• Dragon Age, also from Bioware, borders on being a roman a clef of European history. We have:
  • The nation of Ferelden. It is a feudal nation ruled by a semi-hereditary king who owes his power to the support of barons, and its majority human population is descended from large groups of warring tribes, some of whom still remain during the game's beginning — Celtic to Saxon England, basically. It is also the place where Andraste had her ministry.
  • Orlais is essentially France during the Ancien Regime, with a failed version of the Norman Conquest (Orlesian-occupied Ferelden) in its recent history, and Antiva is styled after late medieval Italian city-states like Venice with a dash of Spain thrown in. Dragon Age 2's setting of Kirkwall is mostly based on medieval Cologne, a free city-state known for its frequent Jurisdiction Friction between the municipal government and the church. Such friction is basically the plot to the game, albeit with the inclusion of corrupting magic and a brewing tension between mages and churchmen.
  • The Chantry itself is heavily based on the medieval Catholic Church, with the main difference being the fact that its priests are always women. The Chantry, like the medieval Church, is tasked with keeping a weather eye out for heresy — although in Dragon Age, heresy means the possibility that you'll be possessed by a demon or become a zombie-esque servant to a dark ex-god who is now a dragon. There's even a divide within the Andrastean religion between the Imperial Chantry and the regular Chantry, which resembles the split between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Furthermore, the fact that the regular Chantry is based in Orlais' capital Val Royeaux resembles the Avignon Papacy.
    • Andraste's life story resembles a mix of Boudica (female barbarian war leader who resisted the resident Rome analogue) and Joan of Arc (her supposed divine appointment and subsequent betrayal and death by being burned alive), is named for an Iceni goddess that Boudica herself would have worshiped, has a cultural role similar to that of Jesus in Catholicism, and theologically, as a human prophet rather than a fully-divine being, has a fair bit in common with Mohammed. Within Ferelden, Andraste is held in generally the same reverence as England held King Arthur, with several parallels between the two stories, such as the Sacred Ashes of Andraste being similar to the story of the Holy Grail.
  • Likewise, as mentioned below, the Tevinter Imperium has its own Chantry system with a "Black Divine," who is always male, as leader, as opposed to the general Chantry's Divine, who is always female. So, elements of the Avignon Papacy as well as the schism that led to the Greek Orthodox Church.
  • Speaking of Tevinter, the Imperium has a mix of post Pax-Romana Roman Empire and late Eastern Roman Empire Empire feeling to it. The Eastern Roman part especially stands out with ideas such as being overly decadent, a poor image of what it used to be, and frequently clashing with a nation of a different religion and culture (The Qunari being the stand-ins for the Islamic world). If you take it further you can even see how the Exalted Marches of Dragon Age against the Qunari mimic the earlier Crusades against the Islamic Empire. There's also the Second Exalted March, which was against the Dalish elves due to religious differences. This resembles the Northern Crusades of Christians against pagans in Eastern Europe.
  • According to Word of God, Nevarra is based off of the Iberian kingdoms, with its name being an obvious reference to the Kingdom of Navarre. However, the existence of a culturally important and politically active order of mages responsible for administrating elaborate funeral rites also gives the country something of an Ancient Egyptian flare.
  • The Anderfels is an analogue to the crusader state of The Teutonic Knights in medieval Prussia: a northern nation known for being extremely pious and militant that, although nominally a monarchy, is effectively ruled by the order of the Grey Wardens. In addition, the Anderfels language displays a strong German influence, as evidenced by place names such as Hossberg, Kassel (the name of a real city in Germany), and Weisshaupt (German for "Whitehead").
  • Much of Dwarven culture is clearly drawn from Jewish culture: there used to be twelve great Dwarven cities, but now only Orzammar remains. Orzammar itself lives in a constant state of siege by implacable foes. Many Dwarves live outside of Orzammar, however, on the surface, where they have a reputation as skilled merchants and businessmen. The more traditional Dwarves in Orzammar, however, place a very high value on scholarship, with the Shapers being vital to Dwarven society. Most tellingly, perhaps, the Dwarves relied on Golems to defend them from their enemies, but the golems eventually Turned Against Their Masters. The key exceptions, obviously, are that, first, the Dwarves do not appear to be monotheistic, instead practicing a form of ancestor worship, and that, second, the Dwarves have a rigid caste system that has no parallel in Jewish history.
  • Word of God is that the Dwarves are based off of the Aztecs and Mayans. This is most evident in their caste system (and explains why they have American accents.)
  • The Dalish Elves have several superficial resemblances to the Roma: marginalized nomads with wagons and a particular reverence for their draft animals. There's a little ancient Jewish influence as well by way of their ancestral homelands no longer existing, and their accents are heavily reminiscent of Irish and Gaelic, which follows along the pattern of people marginalized by a larger nation that looks down on them, in this case, Humans being the stand-in for Great Britain.
    • Elves as a whole also bear a more obvious resemblance to Native Americans, as they share the same narrative of being the original inhabitants of their land who were colonized and subjugated by imperialistic invaders and forcibly corralled into crowded and impoverished "alienages" (reservations), their population small and much of their original history now since lost. Much like the many different Native American societies before American colonization, the original Elvhen were an advanced civilization with a polytheistic religion of various gods mostly tied to different forces of nature. Although some revelations late in the third game do dilute the parallels a little bit (the elves, although a severely oppressed class in modern Thedas, met their most crippling downfall through the actions of one of their own, a radical who sought to liberate elven society after exceptionally powerful elves — later remembered by the Dalish as the elven gods — started taking slaves and spreading corruption during the aftermath of a civil war), much of the colonialist oppression they endured at the hands of various human nations is still similar.
  • The Qunari are sort of a mix of medieval Muslims (due to their position as a major religious rival to the other dominant religion in Thedas) and the Moors that ruled Spain and Northern Africa (due to their firm but rather lenient occupation of Spanish-based Rivain), with a religion completely unlike any other in Thedas that resembles Taoism/Confucianism.
• Dragon Quest III did it to excess, lampshading it with the town names: A colosseum in Romaly, Zipangu just before Francisco Xavier showed up (with added Human Sacrifice), Edinbear as Britain, Portoga as Portugal, Dharma as Tibet, Greenlad as Greenland, Isis as Egypt with pyramids, Baharata as India, Ashalam with merchants calling you "my friend", overcharging, and giving you the option of haggling, and Soo with Hulk Speak: This my horse. It good horse. Most of all, the game's world map resembles (albeit very roughly) the real world, with all these places including corresponding to their real world equivalents. You even end up establishing your colony, "New Town," in what would be the mid-eastern United States, and it eventually goes through a revolution! To top it off, the in-game world map also resembles the real-life atlas.
• Dragon Quest XI has a number of counterparts: Heliodor resembles Rome-inspired early Germany given its architecture, symbolism, and opulence; Hotto is clearly Japan; Gallopolis is a mixed flavour of early Arabic culture; Gondola is Venice; Puerto Valor is Spain and Portugal; Phnom Nomh is a blend of China, Vietnam and Cambodia; Sniflheim is a catch-all for Scandinavia and Russia; Arboria is Ancient Greece; Angri-La draws from Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. Zwaardsrust was the Netherlands, but it was destroyed before the game begins.
• EarthBound: Eagleland is 1980s America, with Fourside being a New York-like place. Foggyland (the area where Winters is) is Britain. The city of Summers appears to be a generic Southern-European resort, possibly Spain; Dalaam is Asia; Scaraba is obviously Egypt; and Deep Darkness appears to be Africa.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • The vast majority of the Tamriellic races and cultures seen to date in the series blend at least two real-world cultures, and are thus listed under Culture Chop Suey. Additionally, please see the series' "Races" sub-pages.
  • Though none have appeared in the flesh to date in the series, the races of Akavir mostly correspond to a real world Asian culture. The Tsaesci draw heavily from Japan, the Ka Po' Tun draw heavily from China, the Kamal draw heavily from Mongolia, and the Tang Mo draw heavily from India.
  • Elder Scrolls Online's three factions are based on some areas of Europe along with groups they associate with. The Ebonheart Pact is based on the Northern portion with some touch of First Nation and Inuit (since the Norse founded Greenland before anyone else and Greenland is technically part of the North American Continent). The Daggerfall Covenant is based on areas of Spain, Portugal, and France since they have history with the Moors (What the Redguards is partially based on) and had some history with persecution with the Jewish population (an arguable similarity to the Orcs). The Aldmeri Dominion is based on what is now the United Kingdom due to a mixed relationship with England and Ireland (similar to the Altmer and Bosmer) and having some trading relationship with East Asia (Moon Sugar is similar to poppy seeds).
• Fallout: Many Post-War societies are intentionally based on Pre-War records of various civilizations when trying to forge a new nation out of the Wasteland.
  • Fallout 2 created both the New California Republic and the Shi Empire, which are based on the Pre-War United States and Imperial China respectively. Fallout: New Vegas elaborates on the NCR, making it so that they're based on both the United States during the Wild West and the Roman Republic, since that game's main antagonists, Caesar's Legion, are stylized after the Roman Empire. However, they actually bear more similarities to Sparta in practice.
  • The Enclave is pretty much Nazi Germany under a thin veneer of Pre-War America.
  • The Great Khans intentionally evoke the idea of being based after the Mongolian Empire — although it's slightly lessened because horses have gone extinct.
  • The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel under Elder Lyons is inspired by early Prussia. By Fallout 4, the East Coast Brotherhood is now basically an Ordensstaat a la the State of the Teutonic Order, providing security courtesy of its exclusive pseudo-knightly military order in exchange for food and raw resources from its network of client settlements... as well as the occasional new recruit.
    • The Commonwealth Minutemen are patterned after both Revolutionary-Era America and the Iroquois Confederacy (the former more so than the latter).
    • The Railroad are also clearly based after both the Underground Railroad of American history and the CIA during the Cold War.
    • While Vault 81 is based on quintessential small-town America, their political situation (being isolated from the outside world, are only recently opening themselves up to the Commonwealth, and are popular traders with most of the region) is actually evocative of Japan after being opened up by Commodore Perry to the West.
    • Finally, the Institute's focus on science and the arts while also being secluded from the rest of the Wasteland is inspired by Renaissance-Era Italy. They also bear a surprisingly high number of similarities to the Soviet Union.
• The exact counterparts of the EVE Online nations is the subject of much debate:
  • The Amarr are closely modeled on the medieval Catholic Church... combined with the slavery of the pre-Civil War American South.
  • The Caldari are a heavily-corporate culture with a few Japanese and Russian influences.
  • The Gallente are a hybrid of the United States and the French.
  • The Minmatar draw on Norse Mythology for some of their ship names. They also have elements of Africans or Native Americans, being a very tribal culture.
• Fable and its sequels:
  • The games take place in the country of Albion, which is populated entirely by identically-voiced citizens from various parts of the British Isles. The map of Albion itself bears more than a passing resemblance to Wales. Moreover, Albion is the oldest known name for the island of Great Britain.
  • There's also the foreign nation of Samarkand, which is an amalgamated counterpart for pretty much everywhere else, being best known for the invention of katanas and gunpowder and having dark skinned people who don't wear a lot.
  • Aurora is a desert city state that resembles South America, with traits of ancient Arabia.
• Other than Wutai, however, most Final Fantasy games are surprisingly good at inventing unrecognisably fantastic cultures aside from a few vague parallels. They are mostly Medieval European Fantasy of some kind, but with a lot of variation, Impossibly Cool Clothes, and Schizo Tech. A notable exception to this is Final Fantasy X, which based its setting on Okinawan culture.
  • Final Fantasy VI had Doma (Japan). This is more evident in the Japanese version where Cyan is a samurai, not a knight. Though his armor looks like a European knight's full plate with pauldrons, except with samurai aesthetic traits to it. Combined with Cyan (or Cayenne in Japanese), his wife Elayne and son Owain (the only named Doma characters) having very European names it's likely that Doma really is meant to be a mashup of Europe and Japan.
    • It's less obvious thanks to the limited architecture the game uses. All the castles have to look the same.
  • Final Fantasy VII:
    • Cosmo Canyon is a pueblo. Corel is vaguely Appalachian. Gold Saucer is based on Las Vegas. Midgar is probably based on Los Angeles or another symbol of American industrialization/urbanization taken to excess. Flashbacks show Tifa wearing a cowgirl hat, one sign in 7th Heaven declares "Texas", and although it's an English translation choice, Cloud's famous "Let's mosey" is Southern US English.
  • Final Fantasy IX had Conde Petie (Scotland). Alexandria seems to be a Medieval European Fantasy, but does seem to take some elements from Germany or Prussia. Lindblum appears to represent London during the Industrial Revolution. Burmecia has mainly Celtic and Nordic influence, with hints of Japanese when it comes to their Dragon Knights and a city based on Barcelona, Spain. Cleyra seems to take elements from both Ireland and the Middle East.
  • Final Fantasy X had the Ronso (Ainu), and a lot of architecture and other trappings inspired by Southeast Asia. The Church of Yevon is somewhere between Shintoism (Yuna dresses a bit like a Miko) and the Catholic Church as written by Dan Brown (although this mostly comes from the English translation using words like 'Crusaders' and 'fayth').
  • In Final Fantasy XI, all four major city-states appear based on real-world nations. Historically, the Kingdom of San d'Oria was the most powerful nation, until the Republic of Bastok rapidly industrialised and overtook the Kingdom, making technological advances and founding numerous colonies. Of those colonies, one — Jeuno — gained independence as the Grand Duchy of Jeuno. In the aftermath of the Crystal War, the Grand Duchy of Jeuno surpassed Bastok as the most powerful nation. Sitting largely on the fringes of international politics with a unique culture is the Federation of Windurst. San d'Oria, Bastok, Jeuno and Windurst appear to represent France, Great Britain, the United States and Feudal Japan, respectively. To the Near East, the powerful Empire of Aht Urhgan represents the real-world Middle East.
    • There's also the Far East Empire, home to Ninja and samurai; the Far West, where the buffalo roam and people wear Native American-inspired attire, and a southern continent famous for spicy food.
  • The Ivalice as depicted in Final Fantasy XII seems to be based on the Mediterranean world and South Asia, so there are many examples:
    • Dalmasca is generically a modern Middle East, being a desert kingdom that used to be the centerpiece of a great empire but currently in the midst of a tug-of-war between two great powers. There is a huge river in the middle of a desert that can be compared to the Tigris, Euphrates, or the Nile. South of the capital Rabanastre, there is a location called "Giza Plains". This gets especially obvious if you hear the BGM for Lowtown, which sounds vaguely Arab-ish. On a lesser note, "Dalmasca" sounds similar to Damascus, the capital of Syria.
    • The Yensa Sandseas, which neighbor Dalmasca, are based on Soviet-occupied Afghanistan and Gulf War-era Iraq, with keffiyeh-wearing Fish People running around executing sneak attacks on travelers, and giant rusting oil field tanks lying around, rendered useless due to terrorist activity and the invading country not wanting to waste any more time and money protecting them. There is even a quest involving an Urutan Yensa being executed because he dared to ask for help from outsiders, which is pretty much the entire reason why the war in Afghanistan is ongoing.
    • Archadia is a mesh of Imperial Britain and Imperial Japan, being a nascent superpower known for their airship superiority, innovation, and rapid conquests towards both their neighbors and faraway lands. The judges' armor are also based on samurai clothing.
    • The English dub introduces some parallels that didn't exist in the original Japanese. The population of Dalmasca speak American English and are fighting for independence from Archadia, whose population speak British English. Bhujerba, which allows the Archadians to mine their territory in exchange for peace, is now populated by people speaking Indian English, which neatly makes them a parallel to The Raj. The English translation for the "Judges" also make somewhat the counterpart of the Biblical Judges, since both are known less for judging and more for kicking ass.
  • At the beginning of Final Fantasy Tactics, Ivalice has just finished the Fifty Years' War against neighboring Ordalia (begun, like the Hundred Years' War, over a succession dispute when the king of Ivalice claimed the throne of Ordalia). It's then thrown into the War of the Lions, another succession dispute that bears some resemblance to the Wars of the Roses.
  • Final Fantasy XIV has the far eastern continent of Othard, which is effectively the setting's equivalent of Asia, and the origin point of the Ninja and Samurai classes. Its regions include the island nation of Hingashi, the mountainous lands of Yangxia, and the rolling plains of the Azim Steppe, which draw the most heavily from feudal Japan, China, and Mongolia respectively in terms of their appearance and culture. It also has two states that are heavily inspired by European history. Ishgard, with its theocracy, Inquisition, and noble houses, resembles medieval Catholic France (especially since it's run by elezen, whose naming conventions are "archaic French"). Garlemald, meanwhile, is Ancient Rome with its names, imperialism, militarism, and how it treats its provinces. The military policies of sending conscripts from newly-conquered land to the other end of the empire and granting citizenship in exchange for a twenty-year term of service were both taken directly from Rome. (That said, it also resembles modern empires in many ways.)
  • The Final Fantasy Legend has the World of Ruins, whose locations have characteristics based on those of their Real Life counterparts in Tokyo. The town in the southwest that is never mentioned by name is implied to be Shibuya. The skyscraper district is Shinjuku (this is mentioned by name in the original Japanese version; not in the English version). Ameyoko is much like it is in real life; a shopping street, and it's close to Akiba, the electronics district, where you find the ROM you need.
• Fire Emblem Fates:
  • Of the two major factions, Hoshido is a pretty standard feudal Japan stand-in (complete with Prince Ryoma strongly resembling Takeda Shingen) while Nohr is somewhere between ancient Rome, medieval Europe, and Celtic cultures, with most place names, as well as the names of its royal family members, being German.
  • The case of Valla aka the third major faction is more complex, as it mixes many different cultures: it borrows several designs and motif from Norse culture (Valla etymology and geography), Classical Mythology (Vallite characters and water elements), and Indian culture (Anankos' mask, symbol of water lilies, vajra motif of Yato, and Azura's dress patterns evocative of mandala), plus the original Japanese adds some Chinese names (Valla is known as Touma, the original name of its former Queen Arete aka Azura's mother is Shenmei).
• Freedom Planet: Planet Avalice is meant to resemble China and Japan, with traces of the Philippines being introduced as of the sequel.
• Freelancer contains four different "Houses": Liberty (United States), Bretonia (Britain), Kusari (Japan) and Rheinland (Germany). And on top of that, their places are named after actual places (such as "Planet Los Angeles"). However, this styling is intentional as the four houses are themed as the descendents of colonists from the four countries.
  • There was also a fifth ship, the Hispania, that was broke down. They became pirates working for various factions. Most notable among these are the Outcasts, whose home planet is called Malta, and the Corsairs, whose home planet is called Crete. Make of that what you will.
  • The four Houses also seem to have revived the old cultures from which they came, some more than others. Rheinland and Kusari are the biggest examples, with landed nobility still present and having influence and uniforms looking a bit antiquated. Their governments appear to be "revivals" of post-unification Prussia and Edo period Japan, respectively, with present-day Rheinland having elements of Weimar Germany (being a republic with a chancellor that slides into dictatorship, established after a relatively bloodless revolution that removed an imperial monarchy, caused by losing a war).

G-I

• In Gems of War, some kingdoms have parallels in the real world; for example, Stormheim is Norse-themed. That said, it isn't a world of nothing but counterparts; more often, each kingdom's distinctive theme is a straight fantasy trope (e.g. elves, dwarves, wolf-people, etc.)
• Every nation in Genshin Impact has its own real-life counterpart.
  • Mondstadt^note "moon city" in German takes inspiration from preindustrial Germanic Europe, especially Germany.
  • Liyue^note "glazed moon" in Chinese, the economic hub of Teyvat, is obviously based on China.
  • Inazuma^note Japanese for "lightning" bears similarity to feudal Japan, as an isolationist island country replete with samurai and cherry trees.
  • Sumeru^note named for Mount Meru, a sacred mountain in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, as well as Sumer seems to correspond to various Indopersian, Arabic and Egyptian cultures, being dominated by deserts and rainforest and home to Sumeru Akademiya, the continent's most renowned learning institution.
  • Fontaine^note French for "fountain" is based of Romance Europe, especially France during the Industrial Revolution; as Teyvat's capital of the arts, its residents are noted for their showy sense of fashion.
  • Natlan^note likely derived from Aztlán, the legendary homeland of the Aztecs is said to have a tribal culture based on Africa and Indigenous America.
  • Snezhnaya^note Russian for "snowy" is a harsh, frigid, and heavily militarized nation, as being a clear counterpart to Russia and other Slavic countries.
• The LucasArts tactical RPG Gladius is comprised entirely of these. Imperia is Rome, Nordagh is a stand-in for the Nordic countries, the Windward Steppes are Asia, and the Southern Expanse is Egypt.
• The map of Golden Sun's planet, called "Weyard", appears to be a very distorted version of Earth. It's actually Pangaea mid-break-up.
  • The starting area of the first game, Angara, bares similarity to medieval Europe, has a region similar to the Scandinavian peninsula to the north, and a (comparatively small) area with Oriental influences to the east. It goes so far as to call the path from the eastern reaches to the western reaches "Silk Road".
  • The continent south of Angara, Gondowan, has Middle Eastern influences at the far north, tribal African influences further south, and is generally shaped like Africa.
  • Indra, which had originally been just southeast of Angara, appears to have Indian culture and is shaped like India.
  • West of Angara is Hesparia, which is dominated by a Native North American-style tribe.
  • Just south of that (though not connected by land bridge) is Atteka, which has Native South American influences.
  • There's also Osenia, which doesn't appear to have Australian influences, but is shaped like Australia, positioned where Australia would be compared to the other continents, and has a location called Air's Rock.
  • Various island chains also represent Japan (Izumo) and the East Indies (Apojii). There's even an Atlantis (Lemuria) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean's counterpart (the Great Eastern Sea).
  • There's even a completely uninhabited version of Antarctica (Tundria) down at the bottom of the map.
  • Golden Sun: Dark Dawn added several previously-unexplored lands to Angara, including a massive overall expansion to the Oriental part of the continent, now collectively called Ei-Jei. The town and forest of Kolima have been moved to the northern Siberia area of Russia (Kolyma) they were based on, the beastfolk nation of Morgal appears to be Mongolia (complete with an Expy of Ghengis Khan's ancestor Borte Chino as king) with Russian architecture, and south we have a Siam-equivalent in Ayuthay (though the architecture is blatantly based on Cambodian Angkor Wat), the Indus River Valley town of Harappa (minus one "p"), and Passaj which is probably Tibet. The Japan-equivalent people have been forced by tumultuous world changes to move from Izumo to the island chain of Nihan, one letter off from the Japanese name for Japan (Nihon), and its capital city is Yamatai... as in Yamataikoku, home of the legendary priest-queen Himiko, our friendly playable Shrine Maiden.
• The Special Stage courses in the Gran Turismo series are based on real routes of the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo, and Route 7 includes a replica of the Rainbow Bridge, which can also be seen in the background on Route 11.
• Grandia has your party traveling East across an ocean to The New World which is clearly a distorted Europe.
• The MMORPG Granado Espada is entirely based around fantasy counterparts of Old World cultures and their role in the New World. Espanola is Spain, Bristia is Britain, Abyssinia is Abyassinia.
• Guild Wars:
  • In Prophecies, Ascalon is a mix of various medieval European areas, while the Charr seem somewhat based on Mayincatec architecture
  • In Factions, Kaineng city and Shing Jea island architecture and names seem based on various East Asian areas. Kurzick lands use gothic architecture with Germanic and Slavic sounding names, Luxon lands use ancient Greek sounding names.
  • In Nightfall, Istan and Kourna appear to be a mix of Ancient Egyptian architecture and Sub Saharan African environments, while Vabbi represents "Arabian Nights" Days.
  • Eye of the North introduces the Asura, with Mayincatec architecture and clothing, and the Viking-inspired Norn.
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Castle/Haven is obviously based on Medieval Europe, Stronghold is vaguely "barbarian" with some shades of Native Americans thrown in, but apart that most factions are based around fantasy concepts rather than real world cultures (Tower is the Mage Tower, Inferno is Hell, and so on.) At least, until Heroes 6 came along with Sanctuary, which is blatantly Japanese. Not only are several of the units from Japanese folklore (Yuki-onna, Kirin), their culture is similar, too. Their symbol is a lotus, the heroes' racial ability is named "Honor", and their penultimate unit is a serpent samurai!
• Like Genshin Impact above, each world in Honkai: Star Rail (aside from the generic Herta Space Station) has its own real-life counterpart.
  • Jarilo-VI and Belobog^note named after a Slavic god takes inspiration from tsarist Russia and St-Petersburg.
  • The Xianzhou^note "immortal ship" in Chinese Alliance can be best described as "Space Imperial China".
  • Penacony^note a contraction of "penal colony", what it used to be is the USA during The Roaring '20s in terms of aesthetics and ambiance.
• Horizon Zero Dawn/Horizon Forbidden West:
  • The Nora are obviously based on Native American cultures, being a culture of Braids, Beads and Machine Armor Plating. They also have a lot of tribalistic rituals and superstitions.
  • The Tenakth are also much like the Native American tribes with a bit more Proud Warrior Race thrown in. They even have unique regional cultures reminiscent of various tribes across the American West.
  • The Carja are a sort of non-blood-sacrifice-focused Mayincatec, especially with them being Stern Sun Worshippers and the gaudy way they dress.
• Indivisible: The Navar State as a whole is Southeast Asia (particularly Cambodia), the Almutah Desert and neighboring Port Maerifa have an Arabia vibe, the Iron Kingdom is England mixed with a little Russia, Kaanul is a blend of various South American cultures but primarily based on the Aztec and Inca, Lhan is mostly Tibet with a smidgen of nomadic Steppe cultures like Mongolia, and while Zhulong is never visited, it is pretty clearly modeled on China. The Shayak Kingdom that used to rule the world in the backstory is based off India and the larger cosmology is heavily inspired by Hindu Mythology, so some Indian influences trickle down to all the other cultures and regions.
• Iron Harvest takes place in an Alternate History version of 1920s Europe with the three opposing factions being Polania (Poland), Empire of Saxony (Germany) and the Rusviet Union (Russia). The Operation Eagle DLC adds Usonia (America).
• The Jade Empire is a dead ringer for Ancient China, complete with dense jungles to the south (Indochina), impassable mountains to the west (the Himalayas), northern steppes populated by "the Horselords" (Mongols), and an eastern ocean, from which come foreigners resembling 16th century European explorers. It's a little Steampunk and All Myths Are True, so it's not quite as Flanderized as most examples of this trope.
• Just Cause 2 has Panau, which is a mix of various nations from Southern Asia, mostly Indonesia and the Philippines with a dash of Thailand, going as far as using Malay and Indonesian for the names of various places and some of the locals' lines. Likewise, Medici in Just Cause 3 is a mix of Italy and modern Malta with a dash of Spain.

K-M

• Kingdom of Loathing has South of the Border, which is more or less Mexico during Halloween, and Little Canadia, which is Canada during the Stanley Cup finals. South of the Border is home to Mariachis, 5-year-old boys trying to sell you oddly-flavored chewing gum, and several types of merrymaking but angry undead, and Little Canadia is home to Lumberjacks, animated poutine, and possessed hockey equipment. Little Canadia also has a conspiracy theories Mind-Control Device.
• Each of the kingdom's territories in King of the Castle have a real-world inspiration.
  • The Barons of the March wear Slavic-inspired clothing and have region-specific schemes involving modernising the military and rallying the people behind charismatic generals.
  • The Chiefs of the North are clad in Scandinavian-inspired outfits and have unique schemes involving ice giants and causing Ragnarök.
  • The Counts of the East dress in Hungarian-inspired costumes and have region-specific schemes involving devil summoning and vampirism.
  • The Grandees of the South wear Spanish-inspired outfits and have special schemes involving Church Inquisitions and witch hunts.
  • The Patricians of the Coast dress in Italian-inspired clothing and have unique schemes involving bribery and manipulation of the economy.
• Almost all of the countries in Lapis Re:LiGHTs are very clearly fantastic equivalents of real-world nations. The most blatant of them all is Yamato, which is Japan in all but name with its culture, the traditional performing arts that the band Kono Hana wa Otome fuses with its rock music, and even its food like sweet red bean paste. Other examples include the main setting Waleland, which appears to be based off of Britain, its neighbours Dortdgard (Germany), Firenza (Italy), and Marlseillu (France), and the other "Far East" country Ryuuto (China).
• League of Legends:
  • The Rakkor are definitely meant to invoke the idea of the Spartans, from their reverence of war to their armor and weapons. The tribe's former name, Stanpar, was an anagram of the word 'Spartan.' Following the Continuity Reboot, the culture of Mount Targon (where the Rakkor reside) is much less defined, though the Greek/Spartan influence is still present (names such as Pallas and Atreus, the latter being the current iteration of Pantheon).
  • Ionia is a mashup of various Asian cultures, predominantly China and Japan. There is also a subdued Greek influence (it shares a name with a region in the ancient Greek world. Both were invaded by a foreign empire that involved a leader called Darius, but managed to throw out the invaders).
  • Shurima is Egypt, with pyramids, animal-headed demigods, and sand as far as the eye can see.
  • The Freljord is a mish-mash of Nordic influences, and serves as a generic 'frigid northlands'.
  • Noxus is an analogue to Rome, blending elements from both the Republic (the Trifarix being a council of three of the most powerful leaders in the vein of the triumvirates) and the Empire (being an expansionist empire that incorporates native warriors into its legions).
  • Bilgewater is a pirate town at first, but combines elements of the American Midwest and Caribbean/Vodun folklore.
  • Ixtal is a Mayincatec Advanced Ancient Arcology secluded deep in the jungle.
  • Piltover is Steampunk Victorian England, while the undercity of Zaun draws inspiration from 1920s America being an industrial city ruled over by mob bosses, albeit with some modern/futuristic elements such as graffiti-spraying street punks on hoverboards.
  • Camavor, the kingdom Viego and Isolde used to rule over, is supposedly inspired by Spain with some slight Arthurian influences.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The version of Kakariko Village seen in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a pretty blatant stand in for Native Americans. The version in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is instead similar to a feudal Japanese village. A Native American motif also appears in the latter game, this time inspiring the Rito culture.
  • The Gerudo in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild appear to be pretty heavily based off of the medieval Arabians, albiet in an all-female context.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks gave us the Anouki who look like little and cute Inuits.
• The chief organizations of Lusternia have a lot of basis in real life countries. Magnagora is much like WW2-era Germany, with their emphasis on racial purity and extreme nationalism; Hallifax, meanwhile, is a clear take-off of communist Russia, right down to their aims being laid down in "The Collectivist Manifesto". Celest represents a declining British Empire, with their emphasis on nobility coupled with their increasingly vestigial nature. You could also make a case for Gaudiguch being America: freedom-loving party animals engaged in a Forever War with the communist Hallifax.
• MapleStory started with fairly generic towns, but there are some new worlds that are very familiar. There's Korean Folk Town, "Japan" (complete with kitsune, kappa, and yakuza bosses), Ariant (a generic Middle East/Arabian fantasy world), "China" (with pandas and Ginseng monsters), and who knows what else in the future.
• Masquerada Songs And Shadows takes place in a setting that resembles Renaissance Venice.
• The quarians in Mass Effect have many blatant Jewish parallels. They were exiled from their homeland to which they long to return, they face discrimination as exiles and minorities without a planet or state of their own, and the crowded, noisy, generally impoverished living conditions aboard the Migrant Fleet are reminiscent of the conditions in a medieval or renaissance-era Jewish ghetto. Then there are the names — the most prominent quarian character is named Tali'Zorah, and Tali and Zorah are both Hebrew girls' names. Double names, as in Leah Miriam, Tamar Rachel, or Tali Zorah, are very common in traditional Jewish society and near-ubiquitous in quarians. The quarian homeworld, Rannoch, the star it orbits, Tikkun, and the three other planets in the Tikkun system, Adas, Kaddi, and Haza, all have names that are also words in Hebrew ^note (Tikkun means "repair", Adas (Ashkenazic pronunciation) means "community", Kaddi means "on account of" or "amphoral", Haza means "chest", and Rannoch itself means "your happiness". There's also an ateroid orbiting Tikkun called Uriyah, which is also a Hebrew man's name (granted, it does sort of seem as though the writers chose Hebrew words at random at times). Similarly, the star system where the quarian migrant fleet is found in Mass Effect 2 is called Raheel-Leyya, which are variant spellings of Rachel and Leah, two of the Biblical Matriarchs. The benediction given by Admiral Shala'Raan at Tali's trial in Mass Effect 2 ("Blessed are the Ancestors, who kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season"), except for invoking the quarians' ancestors rather than a God, is an otherwise exact translation of the Jewish blessing Shecheyanu. ^note As an aside, the Dwarves in Dragon Age, another BioWare series, also practice ancestor worship despite their other cultural parallels to real-life Jews; see the Dragon Age entries above. The story of the Geth — artificial intelligence created by the quarians that later rebelled against them — mirrors the Jewish legend of golems.
  • Unlike Dragon Age and most other examples, Mass Effect, being set in the future and not in a fantasy world, also includes actual Jews and Judaism: at least one minor character, a doctor on Noveria in the first game, is named Cohen, and Shepard can quote the Talmud at the memorial service for Thane Krios in the third game. Some fluff does indicate that a few quarians have converted to actual, human Judaism. The similarities are never remarked on in-game, however.
  • Being itinerant workers who often are often dismissed as thieves and troublemakers, the quarians also resemble Romani people, or indeed, pretty much any migrant group. The codex for the first game notes that "The quarians are coming to take our jobs" is a common refrain whenever the Flotilla shows up to an inhabited planet.
• In the Mega Man Battle Network/Rockman.EXE series, Electopia is Japan (they didn't even bother pretending it wasn't Japan in the Japanese version, incidentally), Netopia (Amerope) is an amalgam of America and continental Europe, Creamland is Britain, etc. Some of the counterparts' names get a little unimaginative, like Sharo, which is basically Russia with the syllables reversed, or Choina (Asina) and Netfrica (Affric). In the second half of the series, there's also mention of Nation Z, the homeland of the Big Bad of 4 and 5 (and, presumably, Lord Wily). Though never visited, its description as an "infamous military state" (among other things) led to the assumption in several circles that it's (Nazi) Germany.
• The hard fantasy medieval world of Calradia from Mount & Blade has these:
  • The Kingdom of Swadia is Western European, sort of a hybrid between France and the German states, or like a longer lasting version of the Frankish Empire. The classic Knight in Shining Armor faction, with excellent heavy cavalry.
  • The Kingdom of the Vaegirs is Eastern European in flavour, mostly Slavic (and particularly Russian) in tone (with some Polish, Balkan and Hungarian elements thrown in). A mix of infantry and heavy cavalry, with big axes and polearms being the most common weapon and few soldiers carrying shields.
  • The Rhodok Republic is Southern European or Alpine-like, based predominantly on the Italian city states or the various Swiss cantons. This is even evidenced in the structure of their military: very little cavalry, but lots of infantrymen armed with various spears, polearms and high quality crossbows. Politically, it is vaguely like the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
  • The Kingdom of the Nords is Scandinavian in tone, but refreshingly not of the stereotypical Viking raider sort (Viking-esque raiders are a separate mini faction of bandits in the game). The portrayal of Nords is more akin to Danish Vikings, the Normans or even the Anglo-Saxons. Their armies are very infantry-heavy and they have the sturdiest infantry in the game.
  • The Khergit Khanate is the obligatory nomadic, steppe-dwelling, Mongol-like culture, with an almost purely cavalry army. Some Turkish cultural elements are thrown in as well.
  • The Sarranid Sultanate, added in the Warband sequel, is the Middle Eastern faction, with various exotic light infantry and cavalry. As for the specific country they're based on — it seems to be predominantly Egypt during the reign of the Mamelukes, with some vaguely Ottoman bits inserted here and there. Its name is a reference to the pre-Islamic Sassanid Persian Empire.
  • The Sword of Damocles mod for Mount & Blade takes place on a whole new continent and has all of the above factions, but also adds some new ones. The Kingdom of Aden is a stand-in for medieval Hungary, the Imperial Legion is the Roman Empire, the Republic of Marina is like if the Ancient Greek city states united and kept their culture into the late renaissance, the Villianese Duchy is mix of medieval Scotland and Wales with a shamanistic pagan religion, the Antarian Empire is a mix of the late Western Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and the Zerrikanian Sultanate is basically the Ottoman Empire if they worshipped Chaos. The mod also introduces several mercenary factions based on historical cultures: the Black Army is based on the Black Army of Hungary, the Boar Clan are the warriors of iron-age Gaul, the Elephant Guard are African tribesmen with a hint of Ancient Egypt, and the Jotnar Clan are your standard Horny Vikings.
  • Likewise the mod Prophesy of Pendor is set on a Low Fantasy continent with all new factions. The Fierdsvain are the Norse (right down to fielding berserkers in furs), Sarleon is a hybrid of medieval England and France, the D'Shar are Persian-esque tribal nomads, Ravenstern is a hybrid of Scotland and Ireland and the Baccus Empire is like ancient Rome, with the caveat that they were once the dominant force on Pendor but thrown into decline and so while the Baccus on Pendor have the classic Greco-Roman aesthetic, far-off Melitine is more like the Byzantine Empire. Outside of the main factions you have the Jatu, a hybrid of the Mongols and the Cuman peoples; Mettenheim, the Holy Roman Empire meets Switzerland; and the Noldor, Tolkien-esque elves with all the accompanying baggage. Pendor, the player's formable kingdom if they choose the Pendor culture, is like the Holy Roman Empire.
• Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord follows the trend above, being a prequel to the original game:
  • The Empire is three different factions, but all share the same troop tree and culture, inspired by the Roman Empire in both late antiquity and medieval history (sometimes referred to as the Byzantine Empire). Their currently divided state is basically an expy of the Crisis of the Third Century.
  • The Aserai Sultanate are the Arabian Peninsula and North African civilizations before the Islamic conquests.
  • The Battanians are Western Europe Celts who opposed the Romans, specifically those of the British Isles (the Irish, Welsh, and Picts), with some influence from the pre-Roman peoples of Thrace as well. There is also influence from the Celts of the later Medieval Era, such as their skilled archers (which the Welsh were known for), and them wearing tartans.
  • The Vlandians are the Normans and other Viking states that established themselves throughout Western Europe, pre-William the Conqueror's invasion of the British Isles.
  • The Khuzait Khanate are Huns and other steppe raiders of Late Antiquity, as well as their later equivalents, the Cossacks and Tatars. Also some similarities with the Turks, as they were once nomadic people who conquered parts of the Empire and settled there.
  • Sturgia are the early nations of Kievan Rus' and modern-day Russia with a dash of post-Viking era Scandinavia.

N-R

• Ninjala is set in a series of fictional countries that are based on real-world locations, albeit with a ninja flavor to all of them:
  • Komerica is the game's analogue to the United States, with Eagle City to the New York City region, which is reflected in its brick-based architecture, large green street signs, and the Goddess Statue resembling the Statue of Liberty if she was holding summoning scrolls instead of a book. The music of choice among Komericans appears to be various flavors of jazz, a distinctly American genre, and there appears to be more advertisements of (fictional) movies and television shows than any other country in this game suggesting Komerica is an entertainment capital.
  • Oedo is based on Japan, with Shinobi City being a pastiche of many different traits of Japan from the Feudal to Industrial Ages, though with many modern and futuristic elements as well. The country is filled with hot springs, cherry blossoms, takoyaki and ramen shops, old-fashioned wooden buildings with paper doors, Japanese lanterns, and something resembling the Tokyo Tower in the distance, but with modern LED signage and billboards and technology advanced enough to have hovering platforms.
  • The Liberty Republic is based on France, with Croissant Arena set in an exaggerated version of Paris. Very large versions of the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower sit on opposite sides of the stadium, there are blimps shaped like croissants floating around the area, and its flag looks exactly like that of the Flag of France. In addition, almost all written text in Croissant Arena is in French.
  • Great Kisten borrows heavily from the United Kingdom, with Fort Riverdale being its analogue to London. The stage is set in a gumball factory but borrows its appearance from the Tower of London and Elizabeth Tower, with a counterpart to the London Eye in the background. Fort Riverdale has a merchandising mascot in the form of a teddy bear in a Beefeater outfit. Some of the buildings have feudal Japanese-style roofing, however.
  • Coshapt takes from Egypt, or at least the pop culture version of it. Icairopolis is this game's Cairo and Giza combined, depicted as a land full of pyramids, sphinxes, and asps, and the building style here takes many pages from Islamic architecture. It's described as a country with a rich mythology that seems to be an exact match for that of the real-world Egypt, with Osiris, Isis, Set, Anubis, Horus, and Bastet confirmed. However, in the distance there seems to be a very advanced-looking city resembling Dubai of the United Arab Emirates.
• An Octave Higher provides two examples:
  • The kingdom of Overture is based on 19th-Century Europe as a whole, being a colonial empire with colonies all over the world that has just gone through a major industrial revolution.
  • Dvipantara, one of Overture's colonies, is a stand-in for Indonesia; the place itself is never seen, but its inhabitants have Indonesian names, enjoy traditional Indonesian foods, and the scientific name for Mana in this universe, curcuma zanthorrhiza (temulawak in Dvipantaran), comes from a type of ginger grown in Java and Indonesia.
• In Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, the Clakkerz are Wild West settlers/rednecks and the Grubbs are the oppressed Native Americans.
• Ōkami doesn't hide the fact that it's based on Japanese Mythology, but the Oina tribe native to northern Nippon are clearly based on the indigenous Ainu of Hokkaido. Their territory is even called "Kamui", the Ainu word for "spirit".
• The Glorious Empire of Overlord II is the Roman Empire with Anti-Magic.
• In Pillars of Eternity, the game is set in the Dyrwood, a wild frontier kingdom that recently threw off their colonial yoke to the Aedyr Empire in the so-called War of Defiance. Most of the people in Dyrwood still hate their former Aedyran masters and player characters hailing from there will face hostility from the locals. They have a hotbloodedness and pioneer spirit to them, unfortunately tied with racism and reactionary attitudes, and they war with the native Glanfathans fiercely and often. In other words, the place is a medieval facsimile of the USA. The Aedyr Empire itself is distinctly Germanic and Anglo-Saxon (with Old English naming conventions). The Glanfathan tribes who originally inhabited Dyrwood likewise have similarities to both the Celts and the Native Americans. The Vailian Republics are renaissance Italy, the Rauatai is Maori, the Ixamitl Plains is Nahuatl, the Living Land is medieval Iceland, and the White That Wends is Antarctica (yes, people live there).
• The various regions in Pokémon are based on various bits of Japan, and, increasingly, other parts of the world.
  • The original region, Kanto, is based on... Japan's Kanto region. The seaside Vermilion City, for example, is where the major seaport city of Yokohama is. Saffron and Celadon, the two largest and busiest cities, are located roughly where the Marunouchi and Shinjuku districts of Tokyo are.
    • The Sevii Islands of FireRed and LeafGreen are based on the Izu and Bonin island chains.
  • Johto is based on the Kansai region of Japan, as well as portions of the Chubu and Shikoku regions in the eastern and southwestern parts, respectively. Mount Silver is Mount Fuji. Goldenrod City, the largest city in Johto, is roughly where Osaka is. The historic and old-fashioned town of Ecruteak is fittingly in the location of Kyoto, the historical capital of Japan, reflecting the fictional and real-world regions' reputation as being very traditional and rooted in its respect for culture and mythology in contrast to the modern and industrial Kanto.
  • The tropical Hoenn is based off of the similarly mountainous and volcanic Kyushu (rotated 90 degrees), with the eastern water routes being based off of Okinawa. Rustboro City is roughly in the same location as Fukuoka, while the island city of Slateport is around the same spot as Nagasaki. Another thing is that Sootopolis, while located near Yakushima, is actually based off of Santorini in Greece.
  • The snowy region of Sinnoh is based off of Hokkaido, the northernmost region of Japan. Jubilife City is where the capital city of Sapporo is. Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which takes place when the region was called Hisui, is based on Hokkaido during the Meiji Restoration, to the point that the player character is working alongside the universe's equivalent of the Development Commission. The Diamond and Pearl clans are also roughly analogous to the Ainu, the original natives of Hokkaido.
  • Unova is based loosely on the New York City metropolitan area. In the first game, the player roughly starts their journey on Long Island and ends in the Bronx, while the second game starts the player off in New Jersey instead. The influence is best seen in the cities of Castelia and Nimbasa, which are Downtown and Midtown Manhattan, respectively. The region also takes elements from the American southwest (the Desert Resort), Hollywood (Pokéstar Studios) and even Europe (Village Bridge is based on Florence's Ponte Vecchio).
  • Kalos is based on northern France, with Lumiose City obviously being Paris, complete with its own version of the Eiffel Tower. This region is arguably the most blatant when it comes to lifting elements from its inspiration, with numerous NPCs spouting off Gratuitous French phrases.
  • Alola is clearly based on Hawaii, being an archipelago of tropical islands. Most of the local culture mirrors that of the real-world location, including place names that come from the Hawaiian language. Within Alola itself, there's the Chinese-inspired Konikoni City (in reference to Lāhainā as a hub for Chinese immigrants) and the Japanese-inspired Malie City (in-universe founded by immigrants from the Johto region).
  • Galar is based on the United Kingdom flipped upside down, complete with Stock British Phrases and occasional use of British English over the usual American English translation (e.g. telly vs. TV). The player starts off near the Scottish border by the Lake District, and finishes in London. A later expansion adds the Isle of Armor (based on the Isle of Man) and the Crown Tundra (based on Scotland). Additionally there are several references to British India, such as the Indian elephant Copperajah that's stated to have been imported from "another region".
  • Paldea is based on the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain and Portugal. This is seen with multiple characters having Spanish-based names and a building based on the Sagrada Família.
  • Orre is based on the US state of Arizona. In particular, Phenac City is based on Phoenix, Agate Village is Flagstaff, and Gateon Port is Lake Havasu City.
  • Fiore, Almia and Oblivia appear to be based on various peninsulas in the Hokkaido region.
• The Quest for Glory series has each game taking place in a different region like this, each of them representing the four cardinal directions except for the third game, which was made as an afterthought. In order they are: Speilburg (Germany, North), Shapeir (Middle East, South), Fricana (Africa, none), Mordavia (various Eastern European locales, East) and Silmaria (Ancient Grome, West).
• While there are no direct parallels in the Ravenmark games, the nations of Eclisse (the game world) have origins in Real Life cultures. The Empire of Estellion appears to be a typical Medieval European Fantasy empire with a strong Roman influence, including the fact that many characters have Latin-sounding names (e.g. Calius Septim, Sergius Corvius). The name of the Imperial capital, Atium, literally means "view" in Latin. Similar to the Romans, the Tellions (the people of Estellion) revere a bird, but it's a raven instead of an eagle. The Kaysani have similarities to Spain, especially their religious fanaticism (although it's sun-worship here), several names (e.g. Alejo de Porres, Heliodore de Moreno), and the fact that their military campaign/crusade is called the Reconquista. One of the two Kaysani factions is actually called the Inquisitors, and they are determined to burn anyone who doesn't believe as they do. The Commonwealth of Esotre is a little difficult to narrow down, but many of their names are French-sounding (e.g. Lorraine D'Artim, Cyril F'Ourier). On the other hand, their Steampunk obsession with knowledge makes them seem more like Renaissance Italians. The Sotran dwarves, on the other hand, have typical English names (e.g. Benjamin Allsworth, Dwight Lawforde).
  • The Cardani elves are a little odd. They don't fit into the typical representation of elves, revering greed in all forms and breeding like rabbits. Strangely, their philosophy of greed has a Japanese-sounding name (fukuyoka). Additionally, some of the weapons they use in battle definitely look like katanas and naginatas. Some of their buildings appear to have pagoda-style roofs. The Tenguko commanders are a dead giveaway, wearing stereotypical samurai armor and tengu masks.
  • The second game has the people of the Faiths, desert-dwelling tribes for whom religion is very important and who are not big fans of the Empire extending its control over them.
  • The tiny unseen Western nation of Brac is mostly known for its soldiers and mercenaries, consisting of phalanxes and peltasts (although peltasts tend to be women). As a society, they value knowledge and quest for the cosmic truth. Ancient Athens springs to mind.
  • Another tiny nation that doesn't feature in the games is the Maratelli Free Cities. The Maratelli are a league of seven culturally-distinct cities, but their major commonality is that all Maratelli love the arts (and parties). This might imply their kinship to Renaissance Italy.
• Red Earth takes place in 1999 on an alternate version of Earth which is stuck in a medieval/mythological state. Notable counterparts to countries on our Earth (which is blue, unlike what the title suggests) are Zipang (Japan), Icelarn (Iceland), and Sangypt (Egypt).
• Rise of Legends features Fantasy Counterpart Cultures to Renaissance Italy, the Arabian Nights Middle East, and Mayan/Aztec Mesoamerica, complete with "appropriate" techs (Steampunk/Clockpunk, swords and sorcery, and sub-Sufficiently Advanced Alien tech, respectively) for its three factions. Two of the three also have very obvious Meaningful Names, with the Renaissance Italians being Vinci, and the Mesoamerican nation being Cuotl (a reference to Quetzalcoatl, who some UFOlogists and cryptohistorians claim was actually an alien).
  • Concept art from the making of the game, as well as unused icons from the map editor, point to the existence of a fourth race that was dropped in the last moment: the Kahan, based on Altaic Mythology. Before the Kahan, so it seems, the fourth race was the Skald, based on Finnish mythology and folklore. Too bad they never made it into the actual game.

S-T

• In Sam and Max: Season 3, the Elves are a working-class, but discriminated against, race, who all have stereotypical Italian-American gangster accents and live in a ghetto called "Little North Pole", obviously similar to Little Italy. The Mole People are another hard-working and despised race, but they vary between Roma (fortune tellers with strong magic superstitions) and Jewish ("You don't look Molish." "By marriage. Rituals were involved!"), depending on Rule of Funny.
• Shantae: Sequin Land is a fantasy (farce) version of Turkey. Further details are seen the fifth game in the series, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, where the overworld map bears some geographical and topographical similarities to real life Turkey and certain locations, such as Cape Crustacian and Hypno Baron's Castle, are located in roughly the same places as the Island of Bozcaada and the ruins of Troy, respectively.
• Funnily enough, as discussed in its Fridge subpage, the factions in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri are based on modern nation states:
  • The Human Hive = The People's Republic of China. Communism, Confucianism and Buddhism all uphold selflessness and unity. Chairman Yang just took it to the extreme by neglecting everything else. Their population is fast growing and hard-working, but they're held back by a lack of political freedom, which stunts the flow of new ideas and hence their economy.
  • U.N Peacekeepers = Liberal USA. A large, democratic state that upholds personal freedom, celebrates cultural diversity and is home to a number of people with different religions and languages, and often seeks to encourage other nations to work together. However, they're also troubled by bureaucracy and inefficiency, and also sometimes far too enthusiastic about intervening in the internal affairs of other nations, which the other nations find a tad annoying. Alternatively, modern India, for many of the same reasons.
  • University of Planet = The New Russia, or at least how people saw it back in the 90's. Advances very quickly scientifically, but not very big on things like personal liberty and human rights. Also has elements of the Soviet Union, as like the USSR, they ridicule religion and want to weaken it as a societal force.
  • Lord's Believers = Fundamentalist USA. The mega-churches, creationist museums and Jesus camps really capture the spirit of the American Evangelical movement. Highly suspicious of new technological advances and foreign customs, with these things being heavily scrutinised by Moral Guardians. Viewed as a pariah by other nations, but extremely powerful militarily.
  • Gaia's Stepdaughters = The European Union. Follows a democratic socialist political system with plenty of women leaders, and advocates ecologically sustainable policies and technologies at the expense of their economy. They also don't really like going to wars much, due to their dark history full of war-time atrocities.
  • Morgan Industries = Corporate USA. Strong emphasis on economics and staunchly capitalist. Limited government but interested in using their economic might to gain political influence around the world. Prone to doing some pretty unethical things in the name of profit margins. The CEO Nwabudike Morgan is Namibian, but studied and played football at an Ivy League college in the US.
  • Spartan Federation = Conservative USA. Encourages and promotes discipline, loyalty and self-determination. Nearly everyone living there is armed. Highly suspicious of foreign powers and responds by pouring much of its economy into a massive "defence" budget, and other nations see them as dangerous and violent.
  • Note that with three exceptions the faction leaders are actually from the countries they parallel. Commissioner Pravin Lal of the UN is from India, CEO Nwabudike Morgan is Namibian, and Colonel Corazon Santiago of the Spartans is from Puerto Rico.
  • Largely averted by the factions in Alien Crossfire, who are based on groups who have yet to power in real life. The Free Drones are social democrats, the Data Angels and Nautilus Pirates are anarchists (the former being a more sympathetic portrayal than the latter), the Cybernetic Consciousness are utilitarians, and the Cult of Planet are transhuman voluntary extinctionists.
• The Sims and SimCity series' take place in Sim Nation, a fictional counterpart to the United States of America. The Sims Medieval takes place in a medieval Europe inspired country.
  • The Sims 3 takes this a step further with their World Adventures pack, adding new sub-worlds to travel in such as Shang Simla (China), Al Simhara (Egypt), and Champ Les Sims (France).
• In Skies of Arcadia, you have Valua as Spain, Nasr as the Middle East, Ixa'Taka as Mesoamerica, and Yafutoma as Japan with some (more) Chinese influences. Additionally, the various independent islands in Mid Ocean seem to support a culture similar to England, or at least English colonies.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Several games take place in a nation called "United Federation", which is America in all but name, complete with their president living in a White House-like building.
  • Sonic Unleashed doesn't even try to hide it. With the exception of Eggmanland, all of the levels are based off of various real-world locales:
    • Apotos = Mykonos, Greece
    • Mazuri = Mali (in Africa)
    • Spagonia = Western Europe (mainly Italy)
    • Holoska = The Arctic
    • Chun-Nan = China
    • Shamar = The Middle East (mainly the United Arab Emirates)
    • Empire City = New York City (mostly taken from Brooklyn and Manhattan)
    • Adabat = Southeast Asia (mainly Thailand and the Philippines)
    • And even Eggmanland could be considered as the bizarro world version of Disneyland/Disney World.
• Octarian society in Splatoon is this of a Banana Republic or People's Republic of Tyranny, emphasized especially in the Octo Expansion lore. While Octo Expansion still leaves specifics rather vague, it builds on some of the previous lore in a way that suggests that as a result of their exile into the underground, Octarian society has taken, shall we say, a hard right turn. Military education appears to be common, there's a fairly strong implication that military leaders are in charge overall, and propaganda that exaggerates the worst aspects of Inkling society seems commonplace and dedicated to ensuring a single-minded animosity toward Inkling-kind among Octarian citizens. This is why the Calamari Inkantation "concert" was such a big deal — for a great many Octolings, it blew open the doors to the truth and made them realize there was a lot more to Inklings than what their leaders had told them. Marina, Agent 8, and other player Octolings are the ones who elected to take the bold step of trying to leave their old lives behind to see what Inklings and the surface world is actually like.
• Spirits of Anglerwood Forest: Anglerwood Forest is based on early 20th century America.
• In Starbound, The Hylotl are based off of Japan, the Avians are May Inca Tec, the Glitch are Medieval/Renaissance Europe, and the Apex society under the Miniknog resembles the Soviet Union.
• Stellaris:
  • Marauders are inspired by the Mongols, right down to having a possible Great Khan (their actual title) arise to pull a Genghis Gambit and unite them against any empire that doesn't immediately knuckle under.
  • A spiritualist empire with the "Inward Perfection" civic and imperial authority gets the Celestial Empire special government type: an isolationist kingdom where the ruler is a child from heaven and the people have little time for strange outsiders who do not understand their serene and peaceful way of life.
  • As of Patch 2.0, it is possible to play a militarist, spiritualist authoritarian empire with an oligarchy government, the "Nationalistic Zeal" and "Slaver Guilds" civics and a Roman-themed name list. Bona-fide Space Romans. You can invoke this in other ways with clever selection of traits, civics and ethics: one example being combining a cold homeworld, the "Barbaric Despoilers" and "Warrior Culture" civics and a Militarist and Spiritualist empire to play as an approximation of Horny Vikings.
• Stonehearth has each of three playable human kingdoms representing a different culture:
  • The Ascendancy is Western Europe, mostly England.
  • Rayya's Children is North Africa and the Middle East, with elements of East Asian cultures in the philosophy and appearance of settlers.
  • The yet-unimplemented Northmen's Alliance is Vikings and other Scandinavian groups.
• A Study in Steampunk:
  • Mercia, the PC's home country, is Victorian Britain, except atheist and rather scientistic, with Loegria standing in for Ireland, as the religious, poor province that has had a famine a few years back.
  • Vlask, Mercia's antagonist empire is Tsarist Russia as ran by vampires, with a Corrupt Church keeping the serfs in line.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Super Mario Bros. 3: The end of World 3 is on a landmass that looks like Japan with the castle being located roughly where Kyoto is^note Kyoto is where Nintendo's headquarters are located. The king of World 2 also resembles a Sultan when turned back into his former self.
  • Super Mario Land:
    • The Birabuto Kingdom is based on ancient Egypt, with pyramids in the background and a boss based on the Sphynx.
    • The Muda Kingdom, named after Bermuda, is a series of tropical islands.
    • The Easton Kingdom is based on Easter Island, with enemies resembling moai statues.
    • The Chai Kingdom is based on China. It has Chinese-inspired music, enemies based on jiangshi, and bamboo in the background.
  • Super Mario Odyssey deals about Mario travelling all over the world in his quest to rescue Peach, and he visits several kingdoms along the way, all of which being based on real-world locations. Quick tour:
    • Bonneton, in the Cap Kingdom, is based on London, with black-and-white buildings shaped like top hats surrounded by opaque smog.
    • Tostarena, in the Sand Kingdom, is based on Mexico, a fact confirmed by the designer Kenta Motokura. It has a heavy Dìa de la Muerte feel, it's colourful, and is inhabited by equally colourful skeletons wearing sombreros and playing maracas. The main landcape feature is a Mayincatec inverted pyramid and its boss is a giant Olmec head.
    • Lake Lamode, in the Lake Kingdom, has distinctive Ancient Greece architecture, with Greek pillars all over the place. It is also reminiscent of France, being the capital of fashion and having a French-sounding named ("la mode" meaning 'the fashion" in French).
    • Though there's no hint of it in the final game, the Steam Gardens, in the Wooden Kingdom, were originally named Kogwald, which would make the Wooded Kingdom based on German forests ("wald" means "forest" in German). This is supported by the kingdom's advanced technology; it's German engineering
    • New Donk City, in the Metro Kingdom, is a very obvious reference to New York City. It is a gigantic metropolis that has countless skyscrapers, the same atmosphere, and it has almost the same name as New York City. It is even referred as The Big Banana, a reference to NYC's surname "the Big Apple".
    • Shiveria, in the Snow Kingdom, seems to be based on Russia. This frigid area's name sounds almost like "Siberia", and one of the souvenirs that can be bought here are matryoshka dolls.
    • Probably the most subtle of them all is Bubblaine, in the Seaside Kingdom, which is based on the Côte d'Azur, also known is the French Riviera. It is inhabited by beret-wearing snails, and has a massive champagne flute as its most prominent landmark. Moreover, both the region's boss, Brigadier Mollosque-Lanceur III and two of its missions (Bonjour, Dorrie! and Merci, Dorrie!) have French names.
    • Mount Volbono, in the Luncheon Kingdom, is based on Italy, a country famous for its food. It is namely modelled after the Vesuvius region, as it has Roman architecture and has is volcanically active.
    • Bowser's Castle, in Bowser's Kingdom is a painstakingly accurate Japanese castle, with 3 concentric walls, (accurately translated as "maru" in the Japanese version) yagura towers, arrow holes, and even a traditional Japanese garden with a tea house where the level's Crazy Cap is located. Mario can obtain accurate samurai armor and Japanese festival clothing by spending traditional Japanese ryō, the 2D platforming section is a traditional set of Japanese screens, some of the sound effects are replaced by a samisen, the enemies wear traditional Japanese jingasa and sandogasa hats, kois inhabit the water ponds, the kingdom exports hanafuda cards and you can capture jizo statues common throughout Japan. The main keep is guarded by thunder and wind guardian statues found at Japanese temples and shrines, there are two large shrine buildings visible in the castle, and the entire level is filled with waving Japanese battle flags and festival banners.
• Tales Series:
  • It's not particularly difficult to see Fendel in Tales of Graces as being an analog of Mother Russia. It's perpetually snowy, resource-poor and just plain poor; an autocratic state full of soldiers and suffering. But what really drives this home is the comparison between Fendel and Windor, the home nation of The Hero. The two countries have a long and bitter rivalry—but when Asbel actually goes to Fendel and sees its towns for himself, he's left wondering to himself how these poor people could possibly be his "hated enemies," much like what happened when the United States came face to face with how poor in actuality the USSR was.
    • This is all true, except that Windor itself is slightly more reminiscent of England. The architecture of Barona and Gralesyde seems to blend Dutch and English influence, it's a monarchy, and of course there's the ties to English royalty — there's been a few English King Richards, for one, and then there's the Windsor/Windor pun.
    • Along with those, some Strahtan cities — Yu Liberte in particular — seem influenced by Islamic architecture.
  • The city of Grand Chokmah in Tales of the Abyss is basically ancient Rome on the water, complete with an Emperor; its overworld model looks like a floating Colosseum.
  • Rieze Maxia from Tales of Xillia is based heavily on the Mongol Empire. Its culture tends to be similar to that of the Asian steppes and many of its place names are derived from the names of actual central Asian cities. Elympios, on the other hand, tends to be more based in Slavic Mythology and folklore.
• Trails Series:
  • The Kingdom of Liberl, the setting of the first Arc, is vaguely based off of England, being a monarchy with a mostly English naming scheme.
  • The Empire of Erebonia is one to Prussia, including a Germanic naming scheme and a character who's based after Otto von Bismark, nicknamed "The Blood and Iron Chancellor"
  • Crossbell City, the setting of the second Arc, is one to Hong Kong, a hotly contested, massive metropolis that's considered the heart of commerce of the continent. It's also one to New York due to also being a hotspot for immigration. The political history of the country is modeled after Belgium, both being states set up by competing powers as a buffer with systemically broken politics.
  • Arteria is one to the Vatican, being the official city-state of the Septian Church.
  • The Republic of Calvard is one to America, being a democratic state and a major superpower in the continent. Like Crossbell, it's also a hotspot for Eastern immigrants.
  • The unnamed countries of Eastern Zemuria are one to both China and Japan.
• Tears to Tiara is based on Celtic culture, mythology, and the Roman Empire. The sequel also has a Classical setting, this time around the Western Mediterranean and Phoenician culture.
• Taking inspiration from Pokémon, the various islands visited by the player in Temtem are inspired by real-world locations and cultures.
  • Deniz is based on Mediterranean nations such as Spain, Portugal, Turkey and southern France. The Sillaro River is the Airborne Archipelago's closest thing to a sea, and it's a popular tourist destination due to its warm climate. Most of its locations' names come from Spanish, while "Deniz" itself is Turkish for sea.
  • Omninesia is a cluster of tropical islets based on a variety of Pacific island nations. The name brings to mind Indonesia, and the Anak Volcano is named after the Indonesian word for "child", while many other of its locations' and inhabitants' names come from languages such as Tagalog, Hawaiian, Malay, and Maori.
  • Tucma is a Death World loosely based on Andean Argentina (specifically the mining comunities; Quechua is also abundantly used, and the architecture resembles Incan works), but the names of its citizens and locations are based on Aztec Mythology. Its cenote is home to Shuine, a Feathered Serpent who seems to be revered, since the guards wear uniforms based on it.
  • Kisiwa is based on eastern Africa. Most of the location names are from Swahili, and its main biomes are a savannah and a desert. It's also said to be the place where humans originated, much like Ethiopia in the real world.
  • Cipanku is based on Japan. The name is derived from "Cipangu", which is the name Marco Polo gave Japan back in the 13th Century. Electric Temtem are revered as kami, which are divine beings and sacred natural phenomena in the Shinto religion. Many bleeding-edge technologies were invented here, but it also contains a quiet monastery village nestled in the mountains. Also, a few characters' names are from Korean.
  • Arbury is based on Britain. The north is similar to Scotland, with a loch and a dojo whose members all wear kilts, while Properton in the south is based on the upper-class parts of England. The ruins of a castle play a major part in the plot.
  • Clan Belsoto itself is Francoist Spain or Salazar's Portugal with the funds to be a global threat.
• A lot of this in Thera: Legacy of the Great Torment:
  • The Kingdom of Avalon is very much medieval England with some Arthurian legend thrown in. They get grail knights and longbows and even the men of Sherwood, and are naturally enemies of the Celtic Gaelic Nations.
  • The Bons Chevaliers/Royaume Du Meravangi are medieval France. Fancy men in fancy armour on fancy horses making fancy war.
  • The Grand Duchy of Dracule is Poland, Lithuania and Transylvania under Vlad the Impaler's rule. A poor, xenophobic and primitive kingdom using armies of peasant serfs with halberds and pikes, backed up by Polish-style winged hussars and really scary knights in spiky black armour. Version 4 reworks the faction a bit to make Dracule a bit more modern.
  • The Holy Order of the Pale Knight is a stand-in for the Crusader States, with a lot of knights and crusaders.
  • The Men of Valhalla are migration-era Vikings (as in, the Odin-worshipping, axe-swinging, mead-swilling, raid-and-pillage kind).
  • The Men of Wotan are an analogue to the Kievan Rus'.
  • The Vashta and Barka Sultanates are the Turks and Egyptians, respectively.
  • The Tahar Caliphate appears to be an analogue to the Moors at first, given that they have hostilities with the Hispanic inspired nations (Ducado de Sangre Valiente and Povos de Hispania). On a closer examination of their unit roster, their army appears to have a heavy Indian influence, given their access to war elephants and that most of their units wear Indian dress. Some of their units also resemble Zulu warriors.
  • Povos de Hispania are the Celt-Iberians, down to the paganism and love of slingers and skirmishers, but also have some Portuguese influences too. Ducado de Sangre Valiente is Conquistador-era Spain, with some Aragon thrown in.
  • The Faustian Reich is the Holy Roman Empire in Version 3. Version 4 significantly overhauls the faction, keeping the Holy Roman side but also throwing in Prussia and the British Empire, as they gain musket-armed line infantry, grenadiers and pistol cavalry.
  • The League of Privateers are a mix between standard theatrical "yo-ho-ho" pirates and the Italian city states. Again, Version 4 gives them more modern technology, throwing in elements of revolutionary-era America.
  • The Romuli Empire is obviously based on the Roman Empire.
  • The Gaelic Nations are a mix of Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Pict and Celtic-Briton influences. Version 4 makes them more of a "barbarian" faction, with more shades of iron-age pre-Roman conquest Britain. Their way of war is men with big swords and axes, with little armour but plenty of pluck and smelly woad.
  • The Lao Che Khanate is very obviously Mongolian in Version 3. Version 4 adds a lot of Ming Chinese, feudal Japanese and medieval Korean influence. Horse archers, samurai heavy infantry, repeating crossbowmen, you name it.
  • The Uruk Dominion is a... well, it's an expy for Isengard, but there's a lot of Sparta and ancient Greece in there, as well as Spartacus.
  • The Warriors of Kukulcan and the Paynal Empire are the Aztecs. The Sycorax nation is based off various Native Americans, with some prehistoria thrown in for flavour — they get tomahawk-wielding heavy infantry in bone armour and woolly mammoths.
• Time Crisis:
  • Sercia = Serbia
  • Caruba = portmanteau of Cuba and Aruba
  • Lukano, although set in the Mediterranean, appears to be based on Lugano, Switzerland. Though the buildings and the sceneries take inspiration from Balkan states and Yemen.
    • Also in the third game: Astigos = Cyprus, and Zagorias Federation = Turkey
  • Time Crisis 4 mostly averts this by being set explicitly in the United States. City names are not mentioned, but Stage 1 looks like The Theme Park Version for San Francisco (due to the hilly cityscape in Stage 1 Area 2 and a cable car in Stage 1 Area 3) and Stage 2 is Yellowstone National Park in all but name. Stage 3 is basically Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, with Serial Numbers Filed Off.
  • Crisis Zone, like Time Crisis 4 after it, averts this trope by setting in The Theme Park Version of London, United Kingdom.
• Total Annihilation: Kingdoms: Aramon is your standard medieval European kingdom, with knights and castles and wizards and farmsteads. Veruna is a unique combo of ancient Greece with Scotland, an island kingdom with white stone cities between rolling hills, where men in kilts maintain mighty warships. Taros is a mix of feudal Japan and Mordor, an evil kingdom where zombies, ghosts and skeletons clad in samurai armour stand guard over warlocks and necromancers in ceremonial robes. And then there's Zhon, the odd one out, a savage land populated by primitive tribesmen and all manner of monstrous creatures.
• Twisted Wonderland: Being based on the Disney Animated Canon, all countries shown are fantasy counterparts to the real-life cultures seen in Disney movies. There are the Queendom of Roses, Sunset Savanna, Coral Sea, Scalding Sands, Shaftlands with Harveston, and Land of Briar. There are also unseen counterparts to China and Japan.

U-Y

• Brittania in the Ultima games is essentially early medieval/Arthurian England recreated on another planet, with religious elements derived from Hinduism and other places.
• Some of the countries in Utawarerumono apparently takes place in real places in Japan. The protagonist's country is based on feudal Ezo (that's Hokkaido) with the people emulating Ainu culture but the most blatant one would be Shikeripetim which looks like a carbon copy of feudal Kyoto! Possibly justified in that the story takes place on Earth a long time After the End of human civilization, where the Little Bit Beastly survivors managed to recreate a low-tech agrarian society.
• Valkyria Chronicles, essentially a mild fantasy version of World War II, has a fantasy counterpart for nearly everything that went on in Europe at that time (including the continent itself, which is named "Europa"). The most notable example are the Darcsen, a persecuted race who have managed to hold on to their heritage and customs despite being scattered all over the world. Although clearly based on WWII-era Jews, they also wear shawls for (vaguely defined) religious reasons and have a (unjustified) reputation for blowing people up and causing havoc that may have been inspired by recent attitudes toward Muslims. In addition, their status as the oldest people of Europa might be inspired by the Basques being the last pre-Indo-European inhabitants of Europe. Many of the fantasy counterparts in the game blend together elements of different cultures like this.
  • The East Europa Imperial Alliance (or The Empire) has elements of Germany and if you look closely into the Empire's backstory and structure, there's more than a passing resemblance as well to the Habsburg Empire/Austria-Hungary. Location-wise, it is in the far east of Europa that covers a large chunk of land, which strongly resembles the Soviet Union. Hell, the event that sparked the First Europan War was essentially a slightly edited version of Franz Ferdinand's death.
  • Gallia itself seems to incorporate many elements of Switzerland and Finland. It has universal conscription as well as fighting hard against a larger invader. Also Gallia is wedged between larger powers in the north west coast of Europa and tries to remain neutral in the conflict, similar to the low countries like Belgium and the Netherlands.
  • Subsequent games have The United Kingdom of Eidenborrough and their ally, The United States of Vinland. Vinland came in late, has the best rocket launchers (a much more efficient design than the Europans, who insist that they look like jousting lances so they can still have knights for traditions sake, while Vinland has a recoilless system that look more like the BFG's they are), and developed a war-ending, city-breaking superweapon through unethical human experimentation, mimicking both the Manhattan Project and cold-war era conspiracy theory fodder.
• The Witcher: The nation of Temeria is similar high medieval Lithuania while neighboring Redania is similar to medieval Poland. Kaedwen could be Ruthenia or even medieval Hungary. Nilfgaard is the Holy Roman Empire looking east as during its forays and expeditions into Central Europe and Baltic states during the 12th and 13th centuries. The Duchy of Toussaint represents parts of Southern France and Occitania. Skellige combines Scottish and Viking cultures, specifically the Geats and Danes of Beowulf fame who also settled in Ireland for a time and absorbed some of the native culture. Dwarves are similar to medieval European Jews, while Elves are a combination of Celtic cultures combined with Rome or Byzantium long after both have fallen. The Ofieri can be seen as either Persian, Yemeni, or Ottoman.
• Some of the areas in Wizard101 include Kroktopia (Ancient Egypt), Aquila (Ancient Greece and Rome), Marleybone (Victorian England), and others.
• Most of the countries in Kairosoft's World Cruise Story are pretty obvious stand-ins for Real Life nations, some even utilizing historical names for those regions: Zipang (Japan), Zhongguo (China), Briton (UK), Merica (US), Deutsch (Germany), Gullia (France), Ruska (Russia), Wahai (Hawaii), Aegyptus (Egypt), and Tenochtitlan (Mexico).
• In the Ys series, the world map is an altered version of the Mediterranean. Eresia = Eurasia, Afroca = Africa (obviously), Romun = Roman Empire, Xandria = Alexandria (Egypt), Altago = Carthage, Atlas = Atlantis, Canaan Vortex = Bermuda Triangle, etc.
  • The Rehda in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim are culturally reminiscent of Native Americans.
  • Ys SEVEN came with a cloth map that made it blatantly obvious that the world the Ys series takes place in is an alternate Earth. The most obvious parallel is that the country in what is Greece in our world is named Greek, and Africa is Afroca. They aren't even trying to hide it.

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