History SchizoTech / VideoGames

* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games started out as medieval fantasy [[{{Steampunk}} with a few robots and propeller-driven airships]] thrown in (typically the province of one isolationist civilization), but by the time of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' had instead become science fiction with swords and magic thrown in, with the occasional [[{{Magitek}} blend of the two]].

* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'': Architecture and societal progress seems to be roughly [[TheThirties 1930s-vintage]], small arms are late UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-level (the main weapons are quite explicitly modelled on the Gewehr 43 and Sturmgewehr 44), flight technology hasn't reached UsefulNotes/WorldWarI yet, [[TankGoodness tanks]] are mostly interbellum-level (though there are some {{Super Prototype}}s rolling around that would make the Maus feel inadequate) and heavy troops still wear 16th century plate armor.

* ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'': Because the film the game is based on was [[CassetteFuturism a 1979 vision of the future]], the games's visual design [[ZeerustCanon recreates this look, with a possibly greater effect now that 35+ years have passed]]. Fantastic technology like FTL-drives, artificial gravity, androids, and space ships are paradoxically combined with 1970's era computer technology. The screens are monochrome [=CRTs=], and have simple interfaces. Amanda's "Access Tuner" is one extreme example, as it a device that seems to have a thin-screen CRT.

* ''VideoGame/KingpinLifeOfCrime'' is set in "a past that never happened", where 1990's rap music by Cypress Hill, modern vernacular and urban ghetto architecture clash with firearms and vehicles from the 1920's and 30's. Various props like radios and [=TVs=] look like they come straight from the 1940's and 50's.

* The ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'' series of games has various examples of schizo tech. While the world itself has a charming sort of 1800's look to it, with fancy clothing, old-fashioned ranches, and no vehicles beyond monster-drawn carts, they have technology capable of HarmlessFreezing, movies, vast underground machine cities, pop idols, and goodness knows what else.

** ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'' at first appears to be set sometime in the early 1900's-1930's -- the professor himself wears a ''top hat'', and the titular village has a sort of quaint charm to it. However, several of the puzzles (which are technically supposed to exist in-universe) feature things such as digital clocks, cell phones, and computers. And if that doesn't strike you as being "pure" enough? [[spoiler:Highly advanced robotics also play an important role in the plot, and you even get to assemble a robot dog.]] Also, Layton's car is a 2cv from the late fifties, but the browns point to TheSeventies.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** The game is set somewhere in the 1960's but there are still Teleporters, invisibility watches, mechanic limbs and automatic gun turrets. Later updates have introduced laser cannons, high-tech sniper rifles, projectile-destroying zappers and a handful of [[AndYourRewardIsClothes hats and costume items]] that far exceed the technology of the time. Many of these items are the result of a crossover promotion with ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''.

* Very apparent in ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheReds''. It is set in a speculated 2040s where UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror [[GoneHorriblyWrong Went Horribly Wrong]] and resulted in a [[CrapsackWorld bleak, militarized future]] where technological development has been stunted and international diplomacy fails catastrophically on a regular basis. The ECA's Manticore Superheavy is practically a WWII-era ''Maus'' tank made possible with futuristic nuclear fusion, nanotechnology and AI pilot assistance. Russia use mostly updated variants of contemporary and Cold War-era equipment, reflecting a preference for rugged, tried-and-true weapon systems alongside their trademark ''Post-''SovietSuperscience [[LightningGun Tesla weapons]]. The king of this trope however is China, who as a consequence of highly sophisticated [=EMP=] and [=ECM=] warfare development on their part, [[WarfareRegression have reverted to]] flak-based munitions and modernized versions of tanks, vehicles and infantry arms and tactics straight from the 1950s.